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. It continues to be a helluva ride, and the journey to get here has been anything but straightforward. Kris’s guitar talent and distinctive vocals swept him into the UK blues-rock scene and eventually into co-fronting LA-based supergroup Supersonic Blues Machine alongside ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons. But genre expectations also come with a gravitational pull, and Kris has spent years resisting being defined by them. With “Halo Effect” (2024) – their first album for independent rock label Earache – the group scored a #1 in the Rock & Metal Album Chart and a #5 in the Official UK Album Chart. By Kris’s own admission, however, it perhaps landed as an over-adjustment with his core fans, as he absorbed the influence of modern metal and a resurgent nu-metal scene. “Monsters We Made” is his answer to all of that. “We wanted big singalongs, big riffs, big solos,” he says. “The kind of hard rock music that belongs in arenas; dense, complex and able to energise the biggest crowds.” With guitarist/keyboardist Josiah Manning on production duties, the Devon outfit – completed by bassist Frazer Kerslake and drummer Billy Hammett – have proven more than equal to those ambitions. The self-assuredness is evident across all eleven tracks, with a band unashamed of an anthemic chorus, generous with virtuosic guitar solos and knowing when to let a heavy groove do the work. For evidence, listen to the colossal opening title track which tackles the idea of being your own worst enemy and features what Kris rightly calls “one of the best choruses I’ve ever written” or the epic ballad ‘Otherside’, which plucks at heartstrings and orchestral strings alike. Kris adds, “I am who I am, and I like to play complicated guitar solos… this album is full of ’em, but they elevate the songs, never detract from them.” It’s a record that suits the scale of iconic venues they’ve graced like Wembley Arena and the Royal Albert Hall, drawing natural comparisons with Black Stone Cherry and Shinedown, which suits Kris just fine. Since “Halo Effect”, Kris has also faced a deeply personal loss, the death of his mother from cancer. That grief and reflection became a catalyst, stripping away external influence and any preconceived notion of what this album should be. “I’d like to think this record could unite our older and newer fans,” he says. On the strength of “Monsters We Made”, that feels less like hope and more like inevitability. A record that moves between light and dark with the assurance of a band who know exactly who they are. This is both a journey of self-acceptance and a genuine arrival moment for a group with a long and important career still ahead of them. | 
