BROCKLEY FOREST – The Die Has Been Cast EP

brockley forest epThey’ve been friends forever; they’ve toured America; they’ve supported Honeyblood and released a couple of excellent EPs – a self-titled disc in 2013 and 2014’s ‘Second Nature’ – and yet after years of sweating it out, Bristol’s Brockley Forest are still very much an underground act.  Their third EP, 2015’s ‘The Die Has Been Cast’ not only marks a welcome return, but also showcases a much broader musical spectrum than anything the duo has committed to tape previously.

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KNUCKLE – This Week’s Been Hell EP

knuckle epWhen done right, the two man garage-rock/garage blues set up can be absolutely thrilling.  It represents the minimum band configuration to make a noise most effectively.  Less distorted than the US’s ¡Vamanos! but more ferocious than the UK’s most excellent Brockley Forest, Huddersfield’s own Knuckle blend garage rock and blues with a touch of stoner groove – as per 2014 breakthrough act Royal Blood, but with an element of DIY sincerity those guys lost by jumping straight in with a major label release.  The results on Knuckle’s debut EP, although fairly typical of the genre, are enthralling with a broad range of sounds and styles throughout the six tracks.

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BROCKLEY FOREST – Second Nature EP

Second_Nature_EPDropped at the beginning of 2013 into a world of DIY noise, the debut EP from Bristol’s Brockley Forest gave fans of garage blues much to celebrate.  Taking a tried and tested blueprint then cranking the volume and intensity, Dec and Seb (vocals/guitars and drums respectively) tore through ten minutes of blues-based grooves with passion, raising hopes for the full length release we assumed would follow.  Just over a year on, they returned.  Sadly, it is without the full length so deserved by their awaiting cult of followers, but their second release – the aptly titled ‘Second Nature’ – is, at least in part, harder than the predecessor; it’s three numbers structured around brash and basic sounds, the grooves much befitting of their approach built around two guys in a rehearsal space.

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