I Am The Avalanche
The Horror Show
What I Am The Avalanche lack in prolificness, they make up for a vast number of times over in purpose. Yet another six-year gap preceded The Horror Show, in which the radio silence was never ominous or foreboding. It would’ve been nice to get something from one of alt-punk’s finest in that time, but the expectation of Vinnie Caruana and crew is that they don’t drop unless it’s absolutely paramount. Abiding by that edict has produced truly stellar albums in Avalanche United and Wolverines, and one that’s only a few hairs off it in Dive. The Horror Show, then, is probably closer to that 2020 release, though as a downward trend, it’s as meagre as they come. For the Avalanche-heads who’ll wait half-decades for something new, this is more of the good stuff.
It’s a great start when the weight and humanity of an I Am The Avalanche album—the linchpin for this band working in the first place—is present in no short supply and identifiable from the start. The idea of purpose swings back around here, where a devastating loss in Caruana’s life manifests as tangled grief worked through over the course of The Horror Show. Of course, that leads to sandpaper-throated cries like with the title track and I’m Not Dead (I Just Blinked And Never Saw The Light Again). On the flip side, life and love are given just as barrel-chested a treatment. True Legends Never Die is an out-and-out hardcore song, and Alive On 14th Street is a towering celebration up their Brooklyn Dodgers in I Am The Avalanche’s canon of ragers.
All the while, the sound is the hearty punk and alt-rock blend that Caruana has been intimately familiar with since his days in The Movielife. It sounds as great as ever, too, whichever way it’s sliced. Laughing And Bleeding is chiming and melodic; I Miss California And Every Dog I Ever Met is explicitly slanted towards pop-punk; Rogue Knife and Trébuchet are a tense, terse closing pair. It’s all executed to perfection, while remaining ruffled and scuffed in just the right capacity. And that’s what you want from a band like I Am The Avalanche—slightly craggy with age, yet blessed with indomitable spirit that seems genuinely everlasting. With the rock-hard gumption in Caruana’s voice, there’d appear to be no other option.
Even so, the niggles keeping The Horror Show just out of reach from its older siblings are still there. As great as the album sounds, it is familiar, and the interlude Osprey breaks I Am The Avalanche’s streak of lean, mean, filler-free releases. Brush those off, though (which is exceptionally easy to do, for the record), and it’s quite apparent that I Am The Avalanche have done it again. For a band like this—consistency made manifest—you’d expect nothing less, but it’s always great to see. The fact that they’re so ingrained in this fantastic state, too, just makes it all the sweeter. I Am The Avalanche mightn’t always be around, but when they can be counted on to deliver like this when they are, that’s all well and good.
For fans of: Hot Water Music, The Swellers, Polar Bear Club
‘The Horror Show’ by I Am The Avalanche is out now on Rude Records / Equal Vision Records.
Arkells
Between Us
If you’re unfamiliar with Arkells’ vibe, they put in a lot of legwork on Between Us to get you there, thanks to features from such paragons of milquetoastitude as Grouplove and Portugal. The Man. But would you believe that that isn’t too big an issue? It can be, and it has for Arkells in the past, but in following a supremely workmanlike pop and disco covers album, it’s just nice to see some equilibrium brought back on Between Us.
That ultimately means accepting that Between Us doesn’t have a rough, raw or even especially dirty bone in its body. Arkells’ striving to be Canada’s answer to The Killers is still going, clearly, and as they now approach double digits’ worth of albums without cracking that upper echelon of indie-pop anthemia, they mightn’t quite be able to reach now. That leaves Between Us to do what it can with what’s at hand, which isn’t a bad thing overall. For glossy songs with bounds far beyond the horizon, you’ll get your fair share on Between Us. Next Summer and Two Hearts pull from a Sam Fender-esque school of anthemic construction, while some impeccably placed backing vocals on Ride and What’s On Your Mind are a push over the line that’s forceful but not too excessive.
All the while, production eschews colour or grit in favour of indie-pop practicality. Again, though, that sounds worse than it actually is. It’s not like the bluesier guitar of Universe Talking is gutted of all sizzle because of it, or What’s On Your Mind’s nu-disco is as antiseptic as the worst case scenario. You’ll seldom get a memorable composition either, but there’s enough to like on principle. It also helps that Max Kerman can be a pretty expressive singer, beyond what this sort of indie-pop tends to allow. There’s already a socially conscious angle to What Good? and Money that’s absolutely novel, and as a sensitive piano-ballad whose vocals crack and echo sincerely, Desire’s Got Some Questions feels like a noteworthy piece.
By no means is any of this to oversell Between Us, mind. At the end of the day, it’s a middle-of-the-road offering entirely characteristic of Arkells’ run as a whole. But it’s also not bad for it and, in the right places, it’s pretty enjoyable. The thing with Arkells is that they don’t make this seem like work, or the consequence of commercialisation to the nth degree. It’s the music they want to make, evidently, presented with an earnestness that’s hard to actively dislike. It won’t change the world, but nothing that Arkells have ever done has, and they’ve still gotten this far with it.
For fans of: The Killers, Portugal. The Man, The Glorious Sons
‘Between Us’ by Arkells is released on 17th April on Universal Music Canada.
Nekrogoblikon
The Boiling Sea
Over time, the idea of Nekrogoblikon being among the first of The Soundboard’s rogues’ gallery has seemed more and more like an overstep. Those last albums are still gimmicky and not great, but given the actual villains impunibly strolling through metal these days, it’s a bit petty to hold it against them that much. Besides, the goblin’s podcast has been their primary focus lately; they’ve not released any music since 2022. But now, a new era of Nekrogoblikon arrives to test this amnesty. John Goblikon has been promoted to vocalist from fannying-around-onstage mascot, joined by Infant Annihilator’s Dickie Allen for an extra injection of credibility.
…well, ‘credibility’ in a relative sense. Your mileage is still entirely dependent on how silly and goblin-infested you can stomach your music being. Therefore, The Boiling Sea is more a reintroduction to Nekrogoblikon than a full-blown reboot. It probably explains the five live cuts bolted onto the end, serving as bespoke greatest hits package on top of a new EP. More than that, they’re the reaffirmation that everything is in its usual place—clanky, squelchy power(-ish)-metal that’s not deep at all, in mix or attitude to theme. There’s been no increase in budget or vision, evidently, with guitars this gimped and a push for garish synths in the ballpark of ‘humour’.
Having said that, though…maybe the fun of it all is starting to click. By no means is The Boiling Sea a tremendous feat, but regardless of how its slides into out-and-out zaniness remain and acquired taste, its levity is easier to parse. On the right day from the right angle, you might be able to rationalise Secret Elephant or Dead-ish as a very, very poor man’s Ice Nine Kills or Electric Callboy cut. Credit to Allen, too, who’s grotty little growls over the paper-thin instrumental of Show Me Your Goblin are suitably, entertainingly goblin-like. But out of everything, John Goblikon might be the surprise ace in the hole. He handles clean vocals with shocking gusto, and the right amount of flamboyance for something as plainly tawdry as Nekrogoblikon are. At the same time, when it’s no more ridiculous than your typical power-metal action figure, it works.
Accounting for all of that, it’s definitely an exaggeration to say that Nekrogoblikon have grown, but they’ve settled into something a bit better, inadvertently or not. Even if The Boiling Sea makes no bones about coming from a joke band, that’s not the singular crutch that it once was. Whether it’s better craft, luck or simply some goblined incantation, there’s enough of a slime-like whimsy dripping off The Boiling Sea and paying itself off. So, congratulations, gobbers—for what this is, it’s not half bad.
For fans of: Avatar, System Of A Down, Ice Nine Kills
‘The Boiling Sea’ by Nekrogoblikon is released on 17th April.
Words by Luke Nuttall
