FACED WITH RAGE

When I think Wales and music it's the trio of BUDGIE, PERERIN and this current band GODSTICKS that comes to mind even though there are others in my collection. Back in 2008 this band came out of nowhere with an EP that created a bit of a buzz on this site at the time. I didn't bite though but bought their first studio album from 2010 along with 2013's "The Envisage Conundrum". Both 3 star albums in my opinion and I lamented with other reviewers that they needed to get heavier. Well in 2015 they got heavier and the band announced they had found their sound with "Emergence". Not so fast as I still feel that's a 3 star record because they still had the other foot on their past. That changed here with "Faced With Rage" an absolute killer album that blows everything else they did in the past out of the water. Without question it has helped that band leader Darran Charles started playing with THE PINEAPPLE THIEF getting in the mind of Bruce Soord but also they replaced the drummer which I feel makes a big difference and added a second guitarist doing the same.

This is fresh and powerful with great vocals. Mostly mid tempo heavy tracks that are catchy with great lyrics as we get a theme throughout this album about "losing it". Man there's some headbangin' stuff on here and it's tough to pick a top three but I have to go with the two opening tracks that set the tone big time in "Guilt" and "Hard To Face". How about that crushing bass line to open "Angry Concern" a song that has to be in my top three except there's "Unforgivable" yet to arrive. Gotta love the heaviness of this album and the way they mix it up enough to keep me interested. A very solid 4 stars.