Shrewsbury’s The Devil In Faust mix up a world of rock-based influences on their debut EP, ‘Come Apart’. Three of the four featured songs centre around a genuine punch, and whether attempting something borne of faster alt-metal elements or tackling something a little meatier, there are some great riffs to be heard. These are riffs that, for the most part, sound a hundred times better with the volume cranked, thanks in no small way to producer Tue Madsen – a man best known for his work with Meshuggah, Sick of it All and Dir En Grey. The end results aren’t perfect, since the actual song writing can be a touch wobbly, but there’s certainly some enjoyment to be had from this uneven musical ride.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
THE RIVEN – Blackbird EP
A lot of blues rock bands have surfaced in the five years between 2012 and 2017. Classic Rock magazine’s constant championing of bands like Rival Sons and Blues Pills have obviously helped fuel the fire, but it has to be said, there has always been a core of rock fans clamouring for such old fashioned sounds. London based band The Riven wade into a somewhat saturated market with their debut EP ‘Blackbird’, but do they have anything to make them stand out from the crowd?
ONE DAY, AFTER SCHOOL – The Invisible Anchor
Wakefield’s One Day, After School released their debut EP ‘In Skeletal’ at the very beginning of 2016. Given the timing of the release and it only being a four song affair, it seemed fair to think that a full length album would drop at some point that summer. The summer came and went. Then autumn…then a very cold winter. The band were nowhere to be seen. Fast forward to Easter 2017 and – finally – their triumphant return. To say it was worth the wait would be an understatement, since ‘The Invisible Anchor’ taps into everything that made the EP enjoyable and more besides.
NORD – Alpha EP
Danish five piece Nord believe in metal with a captial M. They also appear to believe that the inclusion of hugely melodic passages is entirely necessary if they are to attract more than a niche audience. They’d be right to assume that, too, especially when their debut EP includes more than a little death metal throatiness.
MIRA – Mira EP
Emo. Originally shorthand for emotional hardcore and practised by melodic hardcore bands like Youth of Today, Rites of Spring et al, by the beginning of the twenty first century, anything labelled emo couldn’t be further away from those origins. There was a spell in the mid 90s where alternative rock bands with a slight indie leaning were also labelled emo (the best of which were the much missed Sense Field and the short-lived Shift) and they were great, but beyond that, emo just became a lazy tag for “whining sub-goth naval gazing with floppy fringe”. Surely, somewhere in the US, Brendan Canty wonders what the hell happened?