Knoxville, Tennessee's 10 Years are ready to unchain their latest musical concoction, ‘Minus the Machine,’ on July 31, and the guys are going at it on their own via their own label, Palehorse Records. The album’s first single, 'Backlash,' is classic 10 Years, featuring echoey, carefully placed guitar lines that splatter into a thick, dark chorus.

The track is set up with a quiet piano passage before launching into insanely heavy guitars and Jesse Hasek’s hushed vocals permeating the verses. The lyrics are poetic in their anguish: “Dear God, will no one get out of here alive? / Well I’ll still have them / This new Madison floating in the sky / Every clouds come crashing down.”

As the chorus crashes in, it’s obvious 10 Years is captivated with the big payoff chorus, as the guitars and rhythms crash into a big, melodic whirlwind of post-grunge sounds. “Come by your self righteous hands / Get ready to meet your maker / Now, backlashing, back trash you liar / Backlashing, back dashing run coward,” Hasek croons.

‘Backlash’ is a great example of Hasek’s pleading, flexible vocals, as he shifts from reverberating whispers to full-voiced pleas in seconds. Moreover, the band sounds as tight as ever, perhaps revitalized by the idea of doing things independently. With ‘Backlash,’ 10 Years move away from the purely alt-metal pack with a catchy, melodic post-grunge anthem, returning to the radio dials skillfully and with great distinction.

4 Stars
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