Robyn Writes

Harboured – For The Heart’s Still Beating

Harboured are a hardcore band from the city of Cork in Ireland. Formed in early 2012, they’ve been doing quite a few things. Their first gig was supporting Deez Nuts in their own hometown. They’ve been playing quite a few shows around Ireland. And they’ve been recording this EP. It all sounds very impressive, but For The Heart’s Still Beating is a little more pedestrian than that. At least, to begin with. Intro ’16 Ways To Start A Fight’ is quite fun, if rather typical of the genre with its sampling of cult 90s action films – in this case, Leon. It’s got your regular tough guy lyrics, your chugging hardcore riffs and a few gang vocals thrown in for good measure – everything that you’d expect, and although it’s not exactly ground breaking, it at least sounds pretty good. Then breaking into ‘The Bold, The Brave, The Free’ and it just gets boring. Hardcore is meant to be short and snappy, but the track goes on for at least a minute longer than it should. The breakdown is okay, as is the one in ‘Devastator’, but that’s all they are – there’s hardly any variation between the two, just a few gang vocals tossed over some chug-chug riffs and neither are really wanting to make me get down into the moshpit.

But this is an EP of two halves. Ignoring the painfully cliché ‘Kids Who Play Contra’, it finally gets into its stride with ‘Better Off Betrayed’. The opening feels a little bit nu-metally, but in the kind of nostalgic, joyful way, and the verses capture that anger and frustration that the other tracks only claim to. There’s some quick injections of melody and a certain sense of confidence that is actually validated here. It’s still a minute longer than it should be, and the longest track on the EP – but that’s to accommodate a pretty meaty breakdown with some fantastically rumbly bass. ‘DDT’ pays tribute to the hardcore bands of old in its simple approach and works really well. And then closer ‘Hang Your Head’ takes cues from early Rise Against with some great riffs and some posi elements.

If Harboured can draw from the latter half of this EP when writing their next release, they’ll potentially have some brilliant stuff on their hands, but they need to learn where to avoid the cliché and where to exploit it to its full potential rather than wallowing in it.

2.5 out of 5 high fives!

Shout out: Throw The Goat and The Bastard Sons co-headline tour in July!

Hey cool cats,

We’ve heard word of a pretty rad tour coming to our shores this July, so we thought we’d tell you all about it.

Throw The Goat are a most excellent punk band from California, and The Bastard Sons are a rowdy hardcore lot from York. The two combined can only be a beautiful thing. They’ve got support from Serpico, featuring Elliot Minor guitarist Alex Davies, but trust me, they sound nothing like Elliot Minor so it’s okay, as well as a bunch of other sweet bands.

Dates are:
4 JULY @ THE UNDERWORLD, London w/ Throw The Goat, The Bastard Sons, Serpico and Spirits
5 JULY @ EDDIES ROCK CLUB, Birmingham w/ The Bastard Sons, Throw The Goat and Serpico
6 JULY @ FIBBERS, York w/ The Bastard Sons, Throw The Goat, Lyon Estates & 1 more TBC
7 JULY @ BANNERMAN’S, Edinburgh w/ Throw The Goat, The Bastard Sons, Serpico and Roll On Three

We’ll probably be at the Birmingham date, so if you spot any of us, come and say hi!

The Smoking Hearts – Victory!

The last time I saw The Smoking Hearts, I was in a youth centre in the middle of Lincoln, and there was a guy in a Kerouac shirt moshing hard at the front in the ‘danger zone’ while completely off his face. Kerouac dude didn’t care that he was faceplanting the stage on a regular basis. He didn’t mind that after the first couple of songs, everyone was keeping a wider berth than usual. He was challenging the room, daring them to join him in the ‘danger zone’. In a lot of ways, Victory! is that drunk guy in a Kerouac shirt. It certainly has the same energy and determination to party on down. Tracks like ‘Benedict’ are embedded with pop melodies alongside screaming hardcore riffs, and the misleadingly titled ‘Seatbelts’ has a completely rock and roll swagger, nodding back to the glory days of hair metal with a carefully constructed guitar solo that feels anything but. From the beginning, it feels like the best party of your life, without the terrible morning after.

However, it would be crass to say that’s all there is to Victory!. It is ridiculously fun, but it’s also very clever. Many bands try to craft an album that feels like a party but reads like the smartest, most affirming piece of postmodern art you’ve ever encountered. Whether that’s what The Smoking Hearts intended or not, they’ve managed it. ‘Crimes Of Passion’, the hardcore alternative to a love song, follows obsession, sex and encounters in a way that’s refreshing and relevant. ‘The Natural Disasters’, which sounds like it belongs on a Sons Of Anarchy chase scene, is a tale of rising up out of desperation and desolation. ‘Stomper’ does exactly what it says on the tin – it drops the tempo a bit and becomes a deliberate force to be reckoned with. And just when you think it’s getting a bit too serious, a great solo drops or some excellent gang vocals come back into play and it’s a party once again.

There are very few moments in Victory! that can be classed as playing it safe. From the bombastic, vitriolic tirade of ‘Off With Your Head’ to the final thrilling moments of ‘Destroy!’, The Smoking Hearts have created something vital, and Victory! confirms, in an unrelenting manner, what I already knew – that the future of British punk is safe in the hands of The Smoking Hearts.

5 out of 5 high fives!

Emmure – O2 Academy 2, Birmingham, 8/4/13

The Mosh Lives tour wound its way on down to Birmingham once more and a rather large bunch of noisy hardcore bands decided to make a mess in the second city. Nice. Kitteh and I took our earplugs and our tank tops/KISS leotards to our home away from home, the O2 Academy 2, and spent an evening surrounded by enthusiastic teenagers enjoying some beefy breakdowns.
Buried In Verona (2.5/5) started us off. Aussie metalcore with synths meant sexy accents but generic tunes for the most part the other night. While they were full of enthusiasm, the set wasn’t bad, but ultimately forgettable. However, with a line up ever in flux and a wildly differing back catalogue to choose from, it stands to reason that given time and a longer slot, Buried In Verona could have a lot more to offer. Canada’s Obey The Brave (4/5) didn’t skimp on the facial hair or the quality with a set to smash your face in for. Although in their current form, Obey The Brave are relative newcomers, they’re all really deathcore veterans, and Alexandre Erian and co led the Academy crowd to a sweaty and satisfied state with a series of brutal and relentless mosh-heavy anthems. Obey The Brave make no compromises and the end result is a heart pounding experience.

At first, I thought that Attila (3.5/5) were going to suck. The first two songs seemed to be more style over substance as the band paraded around the stage in perfectly chosen outfits and played formulaic songs with highly predictable basslines. But then, something magic happened. Vocalist Chris Fronzak started displaying some ridiculous range and everything began coming to life. The tone and depth of his screams in a live situation is enviable. Deeply enviable. Everything became tons of fun after that, with particular highlights in ‘Party With The Devil’. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Chelsea Grin (2/5). While technically, everything was fine – the band were tight, competent and everything else you’d expect in the more techy end of the genre – their set was just dull. There was no change in tempo or tone throughout, and while they maintained a good rapport with the crowd, no amount of synths or snappy dress sense could save it. The second to last track displayed some promise, but went on for too long and the set as a whole just fell flat.

Ah, but nobody was really there to see any of them anyway. Emmure (4.5/5), the Queens deathcore titans, were at their finest. Frankie Palmeri is equally charming and vicious – one moment, he’s thanking the fans and reminding them to keep safe and in the next, he’s launching into a violent tirade with ‘Solar Flare Homicide’. The band as a whole fit the hardcore dynamic to a tee but with an enthusiasm and power that’s slowly dying out in the genre; at first, they’re imposing, but ultimately ready to mosh as hard as the kids in the pit. As tempting as it is to dive into the pit, it’s also just worth standing back and watching as Emmure do their thing; they’re completely arresting. The set consisted of all the classics, and not as much material from their latest effort, Slave To The Game, as I would have expected; but that left room for all the best stuff from Speaker Of The Dead and Felony anyway. Opening the set with ‘4 Poisons 3 Words’ left Kitteh positively shaking with joy. Believe me when I say, the mosh definitely lives, and definitely will continue to if left in the hands of Emmure.

Singles roundup – 31/3/13

Blind Wall – False Signs (3/5)
Indian rock band Blind Wall have managed to straddle the boundary between prog madness and soft alt-rock surprisingly well. The vocals are soulful, there’s a good dollop of synth and some funky bass, but the instrumentals and the track as a whole just go on for way too long so that in the end, you’re left feeling a little deflated. Nevertheless, the creeping ambient vibes show a lot of promise.

Echo Park – When I’m Gone (2/5)
For a band that’s taken their name from the most exciting Feeder album, their track feels more like they delved into the post-2000 Feeder back catalogue with regards to enthusiasm. A slow, pop-rock ballad with no drive whatsoever. There’s certainly potential – the vocals are great and there’s opportunity for catchy hooks all over the place but they’re just never taken. Hopefully, future efforts will prove more inviting.

Beretta Suicide – Somewhere (4/5)
Somewhere is a riot of a single. Ridiculously fun, Beretta Suicide combine classic punk rock staples and newer innovations (like some sweet megaphone effects on the vocals) in order to create something that’s ballsy, audacious and catchy as hell. Not to be missed.

Hey You Guys!/Das Sexy Clap split single (4/5)
A split from some of Worcestershire’s finest is our single of the month. On Our Knees, the Das Sexy Clap portion of the split, On Our Knees is fucking rock and roll at its finest. Heavy on the distortion without being totally indulgent, it’s completely unafraid. And loud. And mental. The best description for Hey You Guys!’s Keston Villers’ Investment Club is “party rock”. Completely urgent and unapologetic, it’s full of fast and furious riffs and loaded with clever stuff. Both bands are definitely ones to watch.