Theatre of Sorrow - Belligerent Dickhead (self released)

CAUTION: Smallish-scale own-trumpet tooting.

They do say that friends shouldn't review friends. Partly because friendship has an inherent bias, and partly because you could lose your friend. And your readership.

Personally, I think it's rather difficult to not meet musicians when you love music and hang in the same insalubrious establishments (usually smelling of stale beer and wee), which leads me to believe that vast swathes of music journos have, unbeknownst to the likes of us, given their mate's utter twaddle a firm thumbs-up. 

Under the World - Harry Howard with David McClymont (Monorail Music)

Like many break-up albums, “Under The World” mirrors our fears and losses. Unlike most albums in this genre, “Under The World”effortlessly avoids mopey me-me-me whining. Its lack of self-pity raises the bar of such experiences to the magisterial, touching on aspects of memory and forgiveness. Simple, powerful stuff which you can instantly relate to. 

No, I'm sorry, but this is one break-up albums which doesn't reference the bombastic and horribly overblown likes of Ronnie James Dio or Tina Arena. Because “Under The World” is like that David Lynch close-up of the white picket fence and the ideal home that you shudder at as soon as you see it. 

Out In The Street – Angel Face (Slovenly Recordings)

Catchier than the Tokyo subway, “Out In The Street” is the second album for Tokyo’s Angel Face, and any fan of Real Kids or The Boys needs a copy – pronto. It’s 10 songs of no-nonsense, melodic street punk that the world deserves to hear.

I caught these guys in the flesh at the Tokyo Halloween Ball a couple of years ago and they were impressive over a weekend that delivered an embarrassment of riches. That may have been one of their earliest gigs because Angel Face have only been around a few years.

They’ve already put another long-player, a European festival date and a short US tour under their belts. Hercules (vocals), Fink (guitar), Toyozo (bass) and Rayco (drums) have the Japanese work ethic and their productivity would put most of their overseas contemporaries in a cardiac ward.

All The Covers (And More) – Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs (Heavy Medication/Ghost Highway/Take The City)

Cover songs may be the realm of both the rogue exploiting the stupid and the jobbing musician. They're not one and the same and sometimes you can’t begrudge someone for making a dollar. But covers also serve a practical purpose - especially for bands starting out.

Covers give players and their audiences something familiar to cut their teeth on before original compositions take over. They're a reference point that indicates where a band is coming from. And in the olden (pre-Internet) days, they educated the unitiated about music they may not have heard.

Death Crossed The Street – Reverend Beat-Man & Milan Slick (Voodoo Rhythm)

In a world content with the cute and besotted with the bland, Reverend Beat-Man is the ultimate trashman. Whether he’s in one-man band guise or fronting the four-headed fuzz-fest that is The Monsters, this intense Swiss eccentric has been touring the garages and licensed shitholes of this world since 1992 peddling primal rock and roll, both live and via his own Voodoo Rhythm label.

The label’s slogan is “Records to ruin any party” and it’s home to some of the most esoteric, trashy and weird music that rock and roll’s hatched. “Death Crossed The Street” is no exception.

This time out, it’s Beat-Man on vocals, guitar and drums and a younger collaborator, Milan Slick, on vocals, guitar and keys. Of course, they met while soundtracking a vampire film. What else do you do in Switzerland during a pandemic?  

Trauma Magnet – Van Ruin (Crankinhaus Records)

It has been an explosive 12 months for Van Ruin, a band formed in Sydney only a year ago that almost immediately began recording their first mini album. Band leader Phil Van Rooyen had a batch of deeply personal songs he had written about his years of counselling substance abuse in the underbelly of the city's Northern Beaches.

Phil threw himself into a flurry of  writing and recording, working with his decades-long mate and Al Creed, of local legendary bands like Dr Fruitworld and Panadolls, as well as the New Christs.

Enter Stuart Wilson (Lime Spiders, New Christs, Chris Masuak’s Dog Soldier and The Crisps) on drums. There were a couple of the raggedy, under-rehearsed gigs that were hanging by a thread at times, and as thrilling as they were they did not capture the brutal darkness and brilliance of what would the debut EP,  “Jails, Death and Institutions”.