Robyn Writes

Artist Spotlight: Chase The Enemy

In 2003, Amy Lee from Evanescence stood on stage at Rock am Ring and said ‘I am the only chick of today…in all the bands. C’mon girls, let’s get more of us up here, seriously!’. I’d love to say that her comments prompted a new wave of innovative, exciting and empowered female musicians, but sadly, as we all know, this was not the case. Paramore came along and suddenly every girl from Bromsgrove had a Tennessee accent and orange hair.

I’ve seen more Hayley-esque frontwomen than I could ever possibly want to; so much so that if I hear the phrase ‘female fronted alt-rock’, I inadvertently grit my teeth. Needless to say, initially at least, Essex’s Chase the Enemy fell into this bracket. A tiny girl backed by four barely-out-of-school lads? Oh god, not that old chestnut. But you know what? Once I stopped dreading the possibilities and actually listened to the band, I found myself pleasantly surprised.

Chase the Enemy are a band in flux. They dance along the line of ‘innovative alt/pop rock’ and ‘unsettled homage’. Take their track Weigh Me Down – it’s filled with painfully catchy riffs, as is much of their output. Yet despite this, one can’t help but feel like the track is trying to build to something powerful; something that it never quite reaches. This is what happens when Chase The Enemy’s self-awareness and accompanying reluctance to ‘let go’ really get in their way. As a result, instead of focusing on the track’s highlights, your attention is drawn towards musical similarities that prove to be about as unsubtle as a hormonal divorcee at a Twilight convention. There’s a fine line between ‘derivative’ and ‘inspired by’, and for the most part, this doesn’t concern the Essex five piece. But in such tracks as Weigh Me Down, their influences detract from their own talents. This is applicable to most areas of the band – including instrumentalists – but it is most noticeable in the vocal lines. Jessica Moore’s vocals have a delightfully distinctive and fresh tone, regardless of the song, but sometimes they are marred by a noticeably unnatural twang. This may be as a result of some subconscious imitation, but often I found that this unnatural diction could sometimes result in rather oddly pitched notes. On the flipside, some may see this tone as an enjoyable quirk, and the songs that heavily feature this trait are not wholly unenjoyable. Moore undoubtedly has a great vocal talent – her natural sweet tone and enviable control are visible from the off. But it’s songs such as Give Us The Sky that really show Chase the Enemy as an innovative musical act – layered vocals, great grasp of the genre and an all-round very rich sound. When Moore really pushes her vocals and sings with her natural voice, not the voice she thinks she should have, that’s when the whole band are allowed to shine. I left the song grinning, thinking ‘ooh, do that, do that, keep doing the good thing!’

Lionheart is the real stand out track in CTE’s artillery – it’s powerful, upbeat and most of all, fun. And the accompanying video? Frontwomen of the future, go watch it now. Not only does everyone MOVE, but they even *gulp* look like they’re enjoying it! Tracks like this really do epitomise all that Chase The Enemy are when they’re at their best; solid songs with sparkling moments of true brilliance. With great riffs, cookie-cutter pop-punk drumming and a palpable togetherness from the whole band, what’s not to like? Even if their sound isn’t to your taste, you can’t help but admire their passion and clear love of their genre.

New writers request!

Hello, all!

As you may have realised, Kitteh and myself are basically the only two working on this zine at the moment. While we love it with all our hearts, it can get a bit difficult to get material out on time with just the two of us working on it and we’d love to be able to get the ball rolling on some other projects for the site. Therefore, TwoBeatsOff is looking for a few good reviewers. We don’t do news articles, like other websites, purely because there are so many other sites working on that. We do, however, do reviews, interviews and features based on the alternative scene.

So, we are specifically looking for REVIEWERS at this point in time, who may then get to work on interviews and features after I’ve seen enough of your work. The position is unpaid (we’re not exactly earning any money except site upkeep ourselves), but we get a lot of hits a month and if you’re blogging about music anyway, why not post it somewhere with a little more exposure? We can promise sweet new music to listen to, at the very least.

Email me at ripper@twobeatsoff.co.uk if you’re interested with some samples of your writing.

Thanks!

In Remission – The Great & Shallow [EP]

It seems that these days, a rather large proportion of the UK post-hardcore scene is hailing from the more southern climes of the country. Indeed, the monopoly on the genre has been sort of released by Wales in recent years and passed down to… well, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. In Remission are a bunch of lads from the latter and are no exception to the post-hardcore trend.

Admittedly, there’s not a vast deal of things on this EP to set them apart. The problem is that In Remission have played it safe with The Great & Shallow. There’s flashes of experimentation throughout – there are some very catchy hooks in songs like Broken Notes, and some great breakdowns along the way , particularly in Fractions (which sounds a bit nu-metally in places, adding to the fun) and my favourite part of the EP is the call and response vocals in Floodlights, but on the whole, the band stick to a fairly safe formula. This is a great shame because they’ve certainly got the talent to pull off some more complicated stuff. Tom Norman and Rodney Smith throw in some great guitar lines and those brief flashes of brilliance, of something more complex, show that the potential is there; the first instrumental section of Floodlights is a complete assault and it works. Daniel Lillie’s vocals are perfectly good enough for what they’ve produced but again, the feeling that he could push himself more and open up that range just a little is present and niggling the whole way through. Final track Solstice is the major highlight of the EP – it just feels big. It’s a well crafted rock ballad with some clever lyrics and an incredible chorus.

That said, what In Remission have done is produce a solid, enjoyable EP, even if it draws from its influences perhaps too closely. Discipline sounds as if it could have come straight off Funeral For A Friend’s Hours, and Broken Notes has some seriously Underoath-esque moments, but they still have their own charm, such as the choral effects on the chorus in the latter. One thing that they should be drawing from their influences is the amount of polish on the production – at times, the EP is a little fuzzy and with this genre, every section needs to ring out clear.

The Great & Shallow is definitely a good listen. Nevertheless, with a bit more exploration and experimentation, In Remission have the potential to be truly great.

3.5 out of 5 high fives!

We Are Fiction – Earth Medicine [single]

Earth Medicine is the third single from We Are Fiction since their debut EP. The two previous singles, Sail On and My Dreams Are Haunted, have certainly treaded into more heartfelt, melodic territory in comparison to the positively destructive eponymous EP, but Earth Medicine dives straight on in and it immediately pays off. The slow burning verses with Marc’s angelic vocals are enough to send shivers down your spine, and his dulcet tones are perfectly countered by Phil’s heartwrenching screams. After that initial experience, the song then immediately launches into some seriously atmosphere building guitar and a soaring chorus, the likes of which We Are Fiction always do perfectly, completely knocking you for six. The end instrumental section and chant has just as much drama and intensity as the opening to an AFI album – which is to say, a hell of a lot. While We Are Fiction never disappoint, Earth Medicine is a resounding success and a firm reminder as to why they are one of the most exciting bands in the UK post-hardcore scene at present.

5 out of 5 high fives!

Silent Descent – Mind Games

It’d be stupid not to say that one of my most hotly anticipated albums of the year was Silent Descent’s Mind Games. After the synth-based battering that was Duplicity, I found myself both excited and apprehensive when faced with studio reports and pre-order dates – Duplicity is one of my ‘go to’ albums. It’s heavy, it’s slick and it’s always fresh. So, as ever, I was expecting sod’s law to step in and make Mind Games a steaming pile of electronic dirge. Besides, effectively meshing electronica with more heavy genres is always a bit of a balancing act. Doing it well is difficult, but retaining the quality of your releases over the years is damn near impossible. Yet somehow, somehow, Silent Descent have managed to keep their scales beautifully balanced and created a wonderful, compelling, earth-shaking monster.

From start to finish, Mind Games proves to be a full-on, atmospheric affair. It bypasses all the usual trappings of both death metal and contemporary dance; each track has a different pulse, feel and life. Its consistency lies in its quality. While retaining all the hallmarks of a Silent Descent record; the versatile vocals, pushed almost to breaking point, and the pounding, melodic synths of their more than distinctive keyboardist, Kipster, go part way to push Mind Games into legendary territory. Guitars, drums, bass… everything is tight and impressively skilful. Yet thankfully, at no time does anyone venture into gratuitous, over-the top ‘look at my skillz’ excess, though the temptation must have been hard to bear at times. While Silent Descent retain a sound like that which graced Duplicity, it has been noticeably tightened, cleaned and distilled with the mixing skills of Scandinavian metal virtuoso, Pontus Hjelm (Dead by April). With such a distinctive musician comes a distinctive tone – and again, somehow, it meshes beautifully with Silent Descent’s own rounded and now, very mature sound.
Mind Games is impressively well structured; its short introductory track Overture acts as a smooth gateway drug to the pounding calls of ‘defecate…procreate!’ that soon follow in such tracks as Breaking the Space. Breaking the Space proves to be a particularly exciting example of the band’s understanding and control of their genre; it’s certainly trance-metal, dance-metal, synth-metal or whatever we’re calling them this week, but it really is so refined and considered in its changes in pace and tonality that you can’t help but listen, utterly dumbfounded.

The most noticeable change in Silent Descent from their Mind Games days is their handling of their electronic equipment and vocals. While Duplicity is a solid album, a really great album in its own right, Mind Games knows when to ration itself. With tracks such as Psychotic Euphoric, the screams are still there, but now they’re buffered with clean vocals and the odd, dare I say it, harmony. The machine-gun drums and synths are still there (Give On That Trip a listen), but again, they have their place, and as a result, their effectiveness is considerably heightened. This may make their output considerably more accessible to different groups of dance and metal fans, but it also makes their sound far more interesting to the existing fan. In reconsidering their approach, they’ve opened up many more musical avenues to explore. This is none more noticeable in the phenomenal Bricks. It’s the sort of song you’ll find yourself singing around the house, but you’d also feel comfortable listening to it in a venue while wiping someone out in the pit. Pianos, a bassline that could reposition your bowels and a dalliance with the idea of a ballad? It shouldn’t work, but Christ, it does – and you don’t want it to stop.

Coke Stars is the real stand-out track on the album. Featuring guest vocals from the ever-incredible Sarah Jezebel Deva (ex-Cradle of Filth, Angtoria etc), it’s a real demonstration of what can be achieved when synths get smart. While Deva provides the soaring vocal melodies that made her such a stalwart of the British darkwave scene, the rest of the band are able to comfortably compliment her, while still keeping the track their own.

Very rarely does any track on Mind Games seem sub-par; it’s been a fair while in the making, and it shows. It’s easy for songs of such a genre to blend into one another, but Silent Descent have managed to bypass such traps and create a distinctive sound from track to track. The tracks that didn’t make my theoretical BEST SONGS EVER playlist, such as Bring-In-Sanity and the title track are by no means bad, just not quite as innovative or compelling as their album counterparts.

Mind Gamesis capable of being regarded as a modern classic – the kind of album that sparks a mini-musical movement and grabs a generation of imaginations. All they need is more exposure – the chance to assault more eardrums. Besides, now that Pendulum are no more, there’s a synth-based crown ready for the taking. If anyone deserves it, it’s this lot.

4.5 out of 5 high fives!