Budderside – White Flame (2024): A Masterpiece of Modern Rock?
Los Angeles rockers Budderside finally released their long-awaited third album this Wednesday, July 10th. I say “finally” and “long-awaited” not because it was some kind of Chinese Democracy situation, but because the band started releasing songs for this album back in September 2021 as part of the “single by single” strategy.
The first single “Voices,” came out September 3rd 2021, only six months after the release of their second album, Spiritual Violence. Three years later, we got a chance to hear more singles accompanied by fantastically filmed videos, something Budderside is really known for. Even this year, the band released some of those songs as an EP called Good For Nothing, the same as the song that opens the new album – White Flame. The song itself is a perfect album opener, totally my kind of song to open up a great record.
But you know what? All of this is not that important anymore. What is important is that the band made an astonishingly good record once again. For their second release, I said they made the perfect blend of 80s metal and 90s alternative/grunge, but this time, with these 12 new songs, they have taken it to another level by adding some modern touches while staying true to what they are: a powerhouse rock band that deserves to be on top of every hard rock chart available.
And for the best part, as I usually do with every new album, I rated White Flame using the 1-0/5-0 method (1 for the songs I like, 0.5 for the ones in between, and 0 for the ones I don’t like). Do you know what result I got? Song by song, even though I already knew half of them, each one got the highest rating. Incredible! It’s a 12 out of 12 album, and there is no way it could be anything less. The new songs “A Thousand Teardrops,” “Evol,” “Black River,” and “White Flame” blended perfectly with the ones already familiar.
This is it. This is definitely an album of the year and a reminder of how great Budderside as a band is. As usual, great one guys! My only advice, critique or just simply a wish to you is: play less with other bands and more as Budderside. The world of rock needs a band exactly like you!
Listen to the album down here or wherever you like and follow the band on Facebook or Instagram!
