Mason Hill – World So Wonderful
Mason Hill – World So Wonderful
7hz Productions
Release Date: 23/ 10/ 2026
Review by Beth Morait
10/10
Nearly 10 years ago, I headed over to Rockwich in Cheshire to take photos and review the bands performing that weekend. It’s only a small indoor local festival, but it was the place where I would discover Mason Hill, an up-and-coming Hard Rock band from Scotland. They blew me away and I became an instant fan, following them avidly on social media and taking as many opportunities to see them as possible. Things were going great for them… Then COVID hit. Their first album “Against The Wall” was released during the pandemic, but they couldn’t tour it, and a couple of years later their frontman received the devastating news that he could no longer carry on singing due to a health condition. For a long time, that looked like it would be the end of the band, which made me sadder than it probably should have, but I was mainly devastated for them and their creativity as a group. They were such a close-knit group, and worked so hard, so it felt like the kind of news that would destroy their spirit and their desire to carry on. It seemed like yet another case of “Why does that bad shit always happen to the best people?”…
Then that all changed when they finally found new vocalist Tom Ward. And now they’re (finally) back with their sophomore album, “World So Wonderful”, and boy am I happy to have it land in my review queue.
The sound is distinctively Mason Hill, but it’s got heavier and darker since the first album. This is an album put out by a band who have been forced to mature through the adversity they’ve faced. But often out of the greatest pain comes the greatest achievement. That is very much the case here, and Tom’s vocals fit superbly well with this new heavier twist.
Still present though are the awesome Hard Rock riffs, which are bass-driven and make you want to move, the arena choruses that will have everyone singing along, and the lilting guitar solos that sit up on top of the riffing (check out ‘Tainted Wings’ for an example of all three).
They’ve got the ballad game wrapped up too, in ‘Stay For A Little While’. A track that slows down the pace, but doesn’t lapse into a cheesy, typical ballad. Instead, it’s more of a melancholic, tender lilting that breaks the album up a little before heading into ‘Resonate’, which is bordering on Modern Melodic Metalcore! This is a great new direction, which I really, really love.
And this is how the latter part of the album continues. Really heavy, walking on the cliff edge of Metal and Metalcore, but never dropping completely in. It’s clever, it’s fresh, it’s exciting, and I am so, so, SO happy to see these guys back making music like this. Now, I need to get to see them live again at the earliest opportunity!
TRACKLISTING:
01. Burn It Down
02. Twisted
03. Hurricane
04. Tainted Wings
05. Stay For A Little While
06. Resonate
07. Without You
08. Silence
09. Oxygen
10. Remember
11. Drag The Chains
LINKS:
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