Albums of the Week

I have been listening to so much amazing music in the past week, choosing one album for this week's Album of the Week was extremely difficult. I ended up deciding on my 2 favorite releases by Lovebites and DengeL. 

2 weeks ago, Japanese power metal band Lovebites released their 4th album Judgement Day, the first album with their new bassist Fami. People can read the auditioning process on this video . I think they made the right decision. Fami is an immensely talented bassist. Her work on "Stand and Deliver" is my very favorite part of the song (along with the chorus). The musicianship of these women is just incredible, they are crazy good especially the guitarists Midori and Miyako. The dual lead guitars sound is reminiscent of Judas Priest. Western media really needs to play catch up on these 2 guitarists. They are extraordinary with their instruments, and western especially American media needs to stop sleeping on their talent. 

Anyhoo, Judgement Day is the fourth album by the band. I have been listening to it daily since it came out last month.  I love how Fami announces her arrival into the band with a bass solo in "Stand and Deliver (Shoot 'em Down)". It is such a killer track. I love the chorus in the song too. I also love "My Orion" and "Wicked Witch".  While the most aggressive track on the album, "Dissonance" to me the weakest track. The song lacks a good hook for me. I do appreciate the heaviness in the music but for the most part it is background noise. 

I recently discovered that the Beijing gothic metal band DengeL (Devil+Angel) released the first of 3 parts of their 2nd album The Garden of Earthly Delights. The Garden of Earthly Delights is inspired by the Hieronymos Bosch painting The Garden of Earthly Delights. Part 1 consists of five tracks. It took me a couple of listens for the music to sink in with me because it didn't have the infectious pop hooks from Promised. The music is definitely heavier than on their first album Promised (my favorite album of 2021) especially on the title track. My favorite track is "When Will Love Begin". At the moment, the band is currently working on parts 2 and 3. Really looking forward to hearing the music. I really love the risk the band took with this concept album, and releasing it in three parts.

Lovebites: Judgement Day


DengeL: The Garden of Earthly Delights