Sometimes a band will attract your attention in another way than it usually is done. That is definitely the case with TEN TON JOHN, a Dutch band that mixes Hardcore, Groove, Thrash and Heavy Metal into their own brand of Modern Metal. They inundated my pages of Facebook, which piques my interest enough to ask them if they would send me a promo pack for review. Well, this is going to be the result. And before you turn away, I will tell you that I like what I am hearing.

TEN TON JOHN  was formed in 2017 and are from the province of South Holland. All the players are very clearly quite experienced, as what I am listening to is not without proper content. You can feel the depth and quality dripping out of the music that is on "Kingdom Rise". TEN TON JOHN doesn't faff about. They have added 14 songs on their debut album "Kingdom Rise", and the diversity they bombard you with in the 61 minutes the album uses to complete itself makes sure you keep your attention to the music. There never is a dull moment, you will not be able to sit back and relax. On the contrary, there will be times that you wish to bang your head. But you could also wish to do some pogoing, or slamdancing. At other times the music is so intricate that your ears just have to focus to gather the information provided in the proper way.

All this put together makes that although TEN TON JOHN isn't doing anything new, they are well on their way of grabbing more and more people's attention due to the quality of the songs on "Kingdom Rise". From the emotional solo on "Momentum" to the very direct and in your face sounds on the opening song "Infected Minds", and everything in between, every tune makes sense, gets your juices flowing, rocks your boat. I'm not going to say that this is music for everyone, but if you are a fan of Modern Metal bands like MASTODON, GOJIRA and JINJER, you will find common ground. On Facebook they compare their sound to that of MACHINE HEAD, and that also is quite accurate. So, there you have it, the Lowlands are delivering another quality surprise, albeit in a musical genre that we usually are not that well known for. I, as a fellow countryman, am quite happy about that.