ALBUM REVIEW ~ STONE BROKEN ~ 'REVELATION'

I'm music magazine, stone broken, revelation, spinefarm records, rich moss, chris davids, robyn haycock, kieron conroy, chris davids, black sunrise

Stone Broken is a British hard rock band from Walsall West Midlands with Rich Moss on vocals and guitar, Chris Davids lead guitar, Robyn Haycock on drums and backing vocals and Kieron Conroy on bass. They were formed in early 2013 after Moss and Haycock decided to start a new band after the death of the guitar player in their previous band Black Lake. With the current lineup, Stone Broken self released their debut EP The Crow Flies in 2014. Their first album All in Time was released independently in 2016 and they signed with Spinefarm Records in 2017. Their second album Ain’t Always Easy was released in 2018 and in 2019 they re-released the debut album with Spinefarm Records. Stone Broken was voted as runners-up in the Best New Band category in the Annual Planet Rock Award in 2016.

They now have a new album coming on 4/15 entitled Revelation, with 2 singles already released, the title track and “Black Sunrise.” The message of this album is a deep dynamic tale of life, with a bit of an old school rock feel. The band started recording in 2019 but then Covid hit and the world was closed down but it didn’t stop them from having renewed focus and drive.

With Covid we all can relate with the following lyrics of “Revelation”:

“Outside a world divided

Find a wall, crawl and hide behind it

We were bound, on the ground

Separated and, suffocated and beaten down again

Made up the answers and bury the truth

All of the secrets are following you

Under the surface I’ve hidden it all

Take me back to where we started

I don’t even want a sanctuary

Just a little bit of conversation.”

Who didn’t feel like the world has gone mad, that we are being bound and divided. Who didn’t want just a little conversation with someone or didn’t hide behind false words of comfort while knowing the truth of fear. I know I want to go back to where it started go back to a world before covid. This might not be what the band was thinking or feeing when they wrote “Revelation” but these lyrics have some damn close nuance to what happened in the past years and can strongly relate with a lot of people.

“Black Sunrise” shines light on the mental state of pretending and the effect of doing just that.

“Black Sunrise, fall into the shadows again

You can’t hide, it follows you around till the end

No disguise, but it’s so hard to pretend

It’s so hard to pretend

Wake inside, of a broken dream so hollow

Like a vision seen through borrowed eyes

Hear no sound, like a bitter pill to swallow

A forgotten will keeps bearing down.

It’s so hard to pretend.”

Yes, we have times we pretend but at the end of the day it only breaks you down and you forget who you are. This song shows that and reminds us that we already know the truth but we need to let go of the past and the pretending.

The overall sound of Stone Broken‘s music has changed from their earlier albums. It’s dynamic and where the earlier sound was a lot of big riffs, it now has a perfect mix of vocals, drums, riffs and new electronic elements. Robyn shows her ability as a drummer and the soothing sound on backing vocals. Stone Broken is now part of my music library and a definite recommendation to all rock fans out there.

I’m Music Magazine Contributing Writer Magda Engelbrecht