Category: Reviews

Ten Ton John has been working in the Dutch Metal scene since 2017 and has already released a few singles on Youtube and Spotify. This month however the band has finally released their debut album, Kingdom Rise. Kingdom Rise is a collection of already released and new material. The band will officially present this album during the album release party on Friday the 29th in WPC Nederland Drie. Let’s dive into these 14 tracks to prepare for the show! 

About Ten Ton John

Ten Ton John is a four-piece groove metal band from Den Haag. Besides having the groovy elements, that remind us of Machine Head, the band takes influence from thrash metal and dark metalheads Gojira as well. They have been working on their stage performance and new tracks for a while, but finally, the band released a debut album. Not much is known about the band, or at least not on the internet, so sadly there’s not much else we can tell you. Straight into the music it is, then! 

The Album

Kingdom Rise is a collection of tracks that Ten Ton John already released over the years, complete with some brand-new tracks. The first track this band released, War of Lies, already dates back to 2019. The band has had enough time to perfect their art since then. Their style, however, didn’t change much. It’s still the same groovy, tracks, that kind of remind us of Machine Head on some tracks and Gojira on others. Especially the track Down reminds me a lot of Gojira. 

The album opens with Infected Minds, a new track. After a short intro, we immediately dive into blast beats and grooving guitars. It fits the tracks we’ve heard from Ten Ton John before perfectly, and the atmospheric parts break up the song nicely. Stand My Ground, the following track, has been released before. Nice to know: the band released a hardstyle version of this track as well that’s also a lot of fun to listen to. The energy is strong with this track and it is for sure a moshpit killer when played live. Momentum is again a new release. With the progressive riffs in the intro, it has some Gojira hints again. Besides that though it’s mostly a heavy rock track, with the vocals kind of leaning towards Machine Head, especially in the cleaner, gritty parts.

With Spoils of War we are back in mosh-pit territory again. The whole track feels like Stand My Ground part 2 and it’s smart that the band put a track like Momentum in between. The next track Backbone is also a track that got released earlier. Groovy, punky, energy seamlessly transitions us from the previous track into this one. It’s not very unique, but nice to listen to nonetheless.

Run starts with a clean, almost balad-like, intro again like Infected Minds. The verse however borders on hardcore, which definitely makes this an interesting track to listen to. The verse is definitely more on the darker side. The song really comes to life with the bass and guitar riff after the first two minutes. There is that progressive goodness again that makes Ten Ton John stand out amongst the Dutch Metal scene.

Down continues on the progressive, unique line, with some Gojira influences again. Dark, low, mid-tempo riffs give this track a whole different vibe than the energetic tracks from the beginning of this album. Besides the guitar parts, it’s also Rob van der Scheers’ vocals that give us that Gojira vibes. Color it Red is a new release on this album. Again a mid-tempo intro, turning into a heavy rock track, layered with some guitar solos. Another track where the band shows their musicality with an interesting break in the middle of the song.

Into War starts with a clean, balad-like intro again, with a dark undertone that fits the title. It’s an interlude that leads up to War of Lies. Again, already previously released, but it fits the rest of the tracks very well. The band has done a good job of sticking to their own style. This is probably the slowest song on the album, taking inspiration from Doom-metal as well. Fear of Mind takes us back to the more energetic songs again after the slower middle part of the album. Not that we needed it but it’s a nice change of pace again. Rob van der Scheer shows us that his clean, melodic vocals fit this type of music very well too.

End of Hope is probably the fastest track, and a crowd pleasure with a very catchy chorus as well. I am the Enemy starts off with a groovy intro and stays with the heavy rock vibe for the entire song. The entire track is pushed along with the groovy, almost trance-like guitar strums. The final track on the album is I do not seek, I find. This has the most interesting intro of all the tracks on this album so it makes for a good closing track. Heavy on the Gojira inspiration again, this shows why Ten Ton John is unique in the Dutch scene. Especially the clean vocals in the chorus and the chord progression that follows show that influence best. This track, and probably End of Hope showcases the broad range of Ten Ton John well. 

Final Verdict

Kingdom Rise has been a few years in the making and I’m glad that the band took the time to combine all their tracks in one album. For those who have been following the band for a while, it’s nice to have a physical piece of art, and they get 4 new tracks as well. For those of you for whom this is the first introduction to the band, Kingdom Rise is a nice compilation of all the band has to offer. If you’re only going to listen to two tracks of this album, listen to I do not seek, I find and End of Hope or Stand my Ground. For fans of Gojira and probably Machine Head, although more old school metalheads will probably enjoy Ten Ton John as well. 

Tracklisting: 

1. Infected Minds
2. Stand my Ground
3. Momentum
4. Spoils of War
5. Backbone
6. Run
7. Down
8. Colour it Red
9. Into War
10. War of Lies
11. Fear of Mind
12. End of Hope
13. I am the Enemy
14. I do not seek, I find

You can find Ten Ton John on their website, facebook or in our database.

Check out the latest video for ‘Infected Minds’

At the end of the month, Trust Us We’re Liars is releasing their full lenght album ‘Incrementum’. After teasing us with a few tracks on Youtube allready, a new track dropped on Spotify today. Let’s dive into these 4 tracks to see what TUWL has in store for us later this month.

Releasedate 09-07-2023

Niels Riethorst, the man behind Dutch Black metal act Beenkerver, has released his second EP filled with 90’s style Black Metal. “Twee Wolven” is a 3-part epos about the Native American parable that each of us has two wolves inside of us; good and evil. Whichever one you feed, will win the fight. Let’s dive into these 16 minutes of dark black music and let’s see who comes out on top. 

Releasedate: 30-06-2023

Bone of Elk is a new band. Formed in 2019 by the JP, Eddy, and Colin, they completed their line-up in 2022 with Delphine and Lenny. Since then they’ve been working hard on the release of their first album, A Whisper Out Of Reach. Teasing us with two singles and a video clip, we can’t wait what the full album has in store for us. 

Release date: 28-06-2023

Ninth Gate comes to release Hell on Earth with their first release: Vox Demoni. The voice of demons definitely seeps through the death and thrash-influenced tracks, that sound like they were recorded in the 90s. Let’s dive into this debut release and open the Ninth Gate of Hell. 

Release date: 19-05-2023

Darkness Within released their first EP ‘DION’ last year (read the review here). This year the band is back for more with the second part, aptly named ‘DIION’. While playing a lot of shows all over our tiny country, the band still found time to create and record some new music. DIION gives us 3 new tracks that take us back to a few decades ago where, in the band’s words, “Metal was still made of metal”. 

Releasedate: 03-06-2023

Hardcore/Metalcore is the flavor of the season. With bands like Man as Plague, Reformist, Changing Tides, and For I Am King we already had a decent collection, but now we can definitely add Salvage to that list. Salvage is a 5-piece hardcore/metalcore band from the Netherlands. They combine various styles to create their own blend of metalcore, but it’s still very recognizably metalcore. On June 3rd they released their first EP: ‘As Above, So Below’. 

The EP

With 4 tracks in total, of which one (Autumn)  already previously got released, there aren’t any big surprises. As Above, So Below is a nice introduction to what this band has to offer us. More than decent vocals, with the right amount of grit in the grunts. Interesting guitar riffs, melodic riffs where they are supposed to be, orchestration in the background, all the goodness. 

Standing in the Ashes might be my favorite track of this album. It has a nice catchy chorus, which gets amplified by those orchestrations. I imagine this will be a crowd-pleaser when played live. Any of these tracks will be, really. The energy is high and stays high throughout, although the moshpit riffs are most present in The Year of the Gallows. As are the headbang riffs, it’s a pretty versatile track. 

Final verdict

As Above, So Below is an EP the band can be proud of, and we as Dutch Metalheads are proud to deliver so many high-quality metalcore acts at the moment. My favorite track of the album is Standing in the Ashes, but all 3 are fine to play on repeat. 

Tracklisting: 

1. Black Clouds
2. Autumn
3. Standing in the Ashes
4. The Year of the Gallows

You can find Salvage on Facebook or on their page in the database. 

Release date: 18-05-2023

There isn’t much known about Suicide Prophet yet, besides that they just released their self-titled EP on May 18th, and that they are a hardcore band. That doesn’t stop us from reviewing it though.  

Release date: 26-05-2023

Wake of Dawn completed their debut EP, titled “Brinicles,” with the release of their latest track, “EGO,” on May 26th. While relatively new to the Dutch metal scene, this band has already gained a lot of attention for their track, “Nightlights.” Let’s see what these four young guys have to say. 

Releasedate: 31-05-2023

On May 31st, Dogma unveiled their latest album titled ‘Face of Violence,’ following their earlier teasers for the tracks ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ and ‘Borderli(n)es.’ DOGMA is a (metallic) hardcore band, that combines a plea for social justice with hard riffs and heavy drums. The band started working on this album during the pandemic and is now ready to unleash their message on stage. If you want to hear what kicking institutionalized violence in the face through heavy riffs sounds like, let’s dive into this album.