METALCancer Bats, Psychic Jailbreak(Batskull/New Damage/Cooking Vinyl) ***“Radiate existence!” The seventh studio album from this Canadian outfit his you like a tonne of bricks, then doesn’t let up with the face-compressing riffs. “Exalt the axle, praise to the ply… My life was saved by a skateboard,” frontman Liam Cormier emotes on The Hoof. On the affirmational Keep On Breathin he exhorts: “Never forget that your heart is in your home/And in this world you’re never alone.” There’s the grinding, pounding Hammering On with its “Hail Lucifer!” and the Lonely Bong “missin’ his buds”. For a three-piece Cancer Bats certainly punch above their weight.Cancer Bats – Psychic JailbreakPOPILUKA, Queen of Turbulent Hearts(BMG) ***1/2This Blue Mountains-bred, Sydney-based artist “pushes the f—ing envelope” straight out the gates on her debut album, with opening track and single The Limit a celebration of girl power throughout history, name-checking everyone from Cleopatra and Joan of Arc to Cher and Yoko: “All we can do is fight on like the rebels that came before.” She’s “tryin’ and dyin’ to Get Free” on another poppy highlight, and she shows her vulnerable side on Mess, with a little help from Lime Cordiale: “Babe, I confess that I’m a f—ing mess without ya.” ILUKA shows a pop sensibility beyond her years, and plays O’Skulligans Brisbane on June 25.ILUKA – Queen of Turbulent HeartsFOLKNick O’Mara, Overland(Independent) ***1/2As the title suggests, the debut solo effort from Nick O’Mara (Raised By Eagles, Amarillo) evokes vast vistas in the Australian Outback, the style occupying a wide open space somewhere between Shane Howard and Snow Patrol unplugged. “Some things you can’t catch without killing… you’re a dangerous idiot,” O’Mara laments on Broken Toys. There’s the mellow Sunshine, and on the biographical Shaking he observes: “The luck you are born with shapes the memories you are formed with.” And in a brief interlude, O’Mara sings: “No One makes it in the end.” The more upbeat Distant Choir (with its nod to Heartbreaker Mike Campbell) and swaying lament Kathleen are among the other highlights.Nick O’Mara – Overland
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