Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews

CITIES – Hiraeth EP

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Instrumental rock band Cities introduced themselves in 2015 with the brilliant ‘Manning Alaska’ EP. Its five cuts showcased a band at crossroads of a prog/post rock sound, and between its clean finger picked guitar work and a huge concession to melody, they made post rock and instrumental experimentation seem far more accessible than most. Most people at that time seemed to be immersed in the debut from Public Service Broadcasting, but PSB quickly proved to be a one-trick pony; a fairly soulless and meandering collective whom, without samples, had no actual substance. As the months passed, the Cities EP just kept giving; its melodic riffs soared even more confidently, and its very musical heart continued to pump life into the soundtrack-like, cinematic moods in a very satisfying way.

Although the EP never quite gained the worldwide recognition it so deserved, it gained some very positive reviews before the band split, rather prematurely. The departure of one of their members – emigrating to Alaska – put everything on hold just at the point things started to get interesting.

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IMPLODERS – Imploders EP

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Formed during the first Coronavirus lockdown of 2020, Toronto’s Imploders crank out classic sounding hardcore in a very early 80s style. In just five songs, their debut release is hard, fast and brutal, and often far better than your average DIY thrash-punk. Despite an unfussy approach, there’s nothing about the material that seems cheap or wantonly trashy. Quite the opposite, in fact; it’s almost as if every note has been put together with the underlying thought of how Keith Morris, Ian MacKaye and John Doe might’ve approached things. In short, this debut delivers six minutes of the most perfect hardcore; a sharp set of sounds that are absolutely guaranteed to thrill lovers of the style.

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NORA KELLY BAND – Perfect Pig EP

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Like a lot of people, Nora Kelly ended up with with a lot of time on their hands during the pandemic lockdown. For the alt-rock/punk musician who’d previously released a string of digital singles and an album with the band Dishpit, it was a time for thought and an eventual re-invention. Meeting with friends on the street and playing country music covers during Montreal curfews led to the formation of an eponymously named outfit – an act whose debut release ‘Perfect Pig’ showcases Kelly’s alt-country talents as if channelling bits of the Neko Case catalogue, combined with a love of the DIY approach of early Giant Sand.

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EATEN BY SHARKS – Eradication

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Every band needs to grow; to move forward and mature. This is even true of any smart thinking extreme metal band. In the case of Ontario’s Eaten By Sharks, the musical shift between their 2019 EP ‘We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat’ and 2022’s ‘Eradication’ isn’t just a natural progression, but a seismic leap.

They’ve held on to their great heaviness – that was always going to be the case – but on the bulk of the material that makes up this second release, they’ve traded in some of their harsher traits in favour of a more melodic death metal approach, and a vastly improved production job allows for a much broader vocal throughout the seven tracks. This doesn’t mean they’ve wimped out or even sold out in any way, since the material is still cut from some brilliantly uncompromising riffs. It’s just a little more mature, in a good way. Unless you’re one of those narrow minded extreme metal fans who want everything to stay truly marginal, it would be hard to argue against any of these changes being for the better.

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EWIGKEIT – Out Of The Woods EP

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To move forwards, sometimes you have to go backwards. That’s certainly the case with Ewigkeit and their 2022 EP ‘Out of The Woods’. This follow up to the band’s excellent – and intense – pandemic inspired EP ‘Depopulate’ features three tracks that were written for James Fogarty’s former band In The Woods at some point prior to 2019. However, circumstances led to the band splitting, and James decided it wouldn’t be wise to let some potentially strong material go to waste.

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