Released 16th August- A Wolf At Your Door
It’s not been easy for Mallory Knox. Having worked their way up to success only to split from their record label and the departure of lead singer Mikey Chapman. Many bands have carried on creating music after their frontman has departed to varying success. Bassist Sam Douglas has now taken over that mantle and the band state that this is the sound that best represents Mallory Knox as a band and is the sound they’ve always wanted. In that respect the title almost works as a new start, but that wouldn’t mean anything if it didn’t click with an audience.
From their previous efforts, I felt that what they were doing was perfectly fine, however they never seemed to carve any clear identity for themselves. This all changes with their fourth album and is by far the best thing they’ve released to date. What we have are 12 individual songs where anything could be released as a standalone single, yet it all still works as a cohesive whole.
“Psycho Killer” feels almost like the perfect transition between the Knox of old and the Knox of new. For the first time we hear Douglas’ vocals up front and centre and any worries that fans might have are shaken off. It’s a bold opening that really sets precedence for the rest of the album. Released as the first single as this new unit, “White Lies” is a great indicator for what the rest of the record is like. Due to the strength of “Mallory Knox” particularly in the second half, “Livewire” is one of the only times it doesn’t quite click. That’s not to say it is a bad song by any means, it’s just not as strong as the rest of the output on here.
On an album full of many highlights, “Wherever” stands out that little bit more if only just for the opening riff which echoes elements of early QOTSA. “Black Holes” starts off really promising and then as it goes along, just gets even better. You’ll think you’ve found your favourite part of the track and then another riff will just kick in and take it up another notch. The bridge in “Radio” feels so good that you’ll find yourself instinctively nodding as it carries on throughout the rest of the song.
It all finishes with “Guts” which feels like pure rock and roll and keeps up the pace of the album right to the end. Some older fans might take a bit of time to adjust to the change in tone from their previous outputs, but after a few days you’ll have the riffs playing in your head on repeat. All in all, this is Mallory Knox 2.0 and the way in which they’ve reinvented themselves will hopefully pave the way to a really solid future for the band.