Kris Barras Band - Monsters We Made (1LP)

A musical career is a living, breathing thing – a sonic moodboard of passions and influences that goes wherever the muse takes it. For Kris Barras Band, formed in 2015 and led by MMA fighter-turned-musician, Kris Barras, that muse has guided them from blues beginnings to a hard rock renaissance.

That fascinating evolution continues on their sixth album, Monsters We Made, with a sound that continues to suit the scale of the legendary venues they’ve played, including Wembley Arena and the Royal Albert Hall, while drawing comparisons with the likes Black Stone Cherry and Shinedown – which suits Kris just fine. “We wanted big singalongs, big riffs, big solos,” the band’s leader says of their creative ethos this time around. “The kind of hard rock music that belongs in arenas – dense, complex and able to energise the biggest crowds.”

Such ambitions are easier said than done, but with the band’s guitarist/keyboardist Josiah Manning on production duties, it’s a task the Devon band – completed by bassist Frazer Kerslake and drummer Billy Hammett – have been equal to. For evidence, you need only listen to the colossal opening title track, which tackles the idea of being your own worst enemy and features what Kris rightly considers “one of the best choruses I’ve ever written”; or the epic ballad, “Otherside”, which plucks at heartstrings and orchestral strings alike.

“I’d like to think this record could unite our older and newer fans,” says Kris of Monsters We Made, a record that will appeal to blues fans thanks to its contrasts between light and dark, as well as rock fans wanting to bang their heads.