SOUTH OF SALEM
“Death Of The Party”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

South Of Salem are a hard rock band from the UK formed in 2018 by singer Joey Draper. The band have released two albums to date, ‘The Sinner Takes It All’ (2020) and ‘Death Of The Party’ (2024).

Describing themselves as a hard rock band, South Of Salem for me, are much more of a heavy metal band, harking back to the glorious eighties when nearly every band were considered heavy metal – even bands such as Def Leppard, Motley Crue and Whitesnake. Inspired by such luminaries as Alice Cooper, Guns N’ Roses and Murderdolls, the Bournemouth quintet rock fucking hard across forty two fierce minutes and ten songs – ‘Vultures’ hitting hard and immediately! South Of Salem are very quick outta the blocks, the incessant album opener pounding the ground so hard, buildings are shaking and falling down! The power oozing from ‘Vultures’ is immense, the band planting their “foot on the monitor” to deliver a head bang-able heavy metal come hard rock delight.

And ‘Vultures’ is just one delight – there are nine more to come! The band roar on with the bolder and much more brash ‘Static’, echoing the direction the hard rock sound from the eighties took in the nineties, when old school rock bands switched to a harder sound to combat the emerging Grunge phenomena! ‘Static’ is a ground shaking foot stomp that’s gonna cause earthquakes and wake up volcanoes, the incredible power of South Of Salem a tour de fucking force! The intensity level across the opening double has rocketed off the charts, the band taking no prisoners with a bombastic brace that’s gonna knock yer fucking block off! And keeping the pedal firmly pressed to the metal, South Of Salem storm on with the phenomenally attractive ‘Jet Black Eyes’ – hitting harder than either of the two previous songs, yet losing none of the bands incredibly melodious intent! Do you see, or rather hear, what I meant when I said the band are more metal than rock? A band that keeps the hammer down, roaring on with ‘Stitch The Wound’ – smiles a mile wide appearing on the faces of every listener everywhere! I tell ya readers, ‘Death Of The Party’ is an album for both rockers and metalheads to enjoy together, there’s no boundary here, South Of Salem standing proudly on the bridge between the genres of heavy metal and hard rock!

To say ‘Death Of The Party’ has surprised me, may be the understatement of the year (so far), the Bournemouth band rocking harder than a flag in a hurricane – ‘Left For Dead’ hitting the hardest of all the songs heard so far! Now I know I’ve mentioned the incredibly high intensity level already, but by crikey it’s reaching new and uncharted heights now – ‘Left For Dead’ bludgeoning listeners around the head with more rock than found in a geologists store room! Every song on ‘Death Of The Party’ is around four minutes in length, paving the way for a quick moving album – an album that’s as unforgiving as the ground when you fall over! You know it’s coming but there’s fuck all you can do to avoid it! And there’s no avoiding the relentless barrage of rock come metal from South Of Salem, the band firing on all cylinders, delivering ‘Hellbound Heart’ at a slightly slower tempo than everything heard up to this point – for the first minute or so anyway! And then the band resume the (albums) bombastic barrage, ‘Hellbound Heart’ maintaining its tempo changing, pace changing attitude. And talking of attitude, ‘Bad Habits (Die Hard)’ is the most in your face song on offer – across the first few seconds only, turning into the fastest song on the album. Adopting the classic gallop of traditional heavy metal, ‘Bad Habits (Die Hard)’ is incredibly infectious and head bang-able to the max!

As is the entire album – ‘Death Of The Party’ a fast moving roller coaster of rock that travels right through the middle of the heavy metal genre! The title song ‘Death Of The Party’ is actually the life of the party, rocking harder than ever in a metal world, delivering the kinda punch that only heavyweight boxers can throw! Until now – South Of Salem punching much harder. flattening every listener with a wide array of jabs, uppercuts and haymakers! The sheer oomph of the album is incredible, and there’s still two songs to go – the first of which ‘A Life Worth Dying For’, is a masterclass in how to rock hard! South Of Salem may be a relatively young band, but the experience across the five band members is immense – and it shows! Big time! ‘A Life Worth Dying For’ could easily sit in the heart of the melodic metal genre such is its massive melodious intent, the band steadfastly straddling the genres of hard rock and heavy metal. A position they’ve maintained right through the entire album – the final song ‘Villain’ coming round the mountain with an alternative, almost Grungy feel! That said, the bands root hard rocking metal style still shines brightly, South Of Salem broadening their musical horizon for the albums final hurrah!

Overall, a barnstorming barrage of metal edged hard rock with a sky high infectious level and a tonne of head bang ability.

TRACKLIST

Vultures 
Static 
Jet Black Eyes 
Stitch The Wound 
Left For Dead 
Hellbound Heart          
Bad Habits (Die Hard) 
Death Of The Party 
A Life Worth Dying For 
Villain

https://www.southofsalem.com/
https://www.facebook.com/southofsalemofficial

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