Robyn Writes

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!

From Afar – Atheoryforyou [EP]

From Afar are apparently strangers to correct punctuation. Their short and sweet EP Atheoryforyou is testament to that (although it appears, thanks to Facebook, that their actual band name has had a necessary space injected into it). Thankfully, Atheoryforyou is more significant than just grammatical error. A thrilling tribute to the post-hardcore scene of the early 2000s, From Afar have confidence and killer riffs abound.

Opening track Rome is certainly reminiscent of early Finch meeting up with The Fall Of Troy for shots and falling on the floor of a bar operated by Funeral For A Friend. Vocalist Lance immediately sets himself up as the major highlight of the EP – his voice has excellent tone and range, as well as being far more powerful than most in the genre. The slower sections of the track are most impressive, possessing a beautiful melody, but the growled interjections carry a feeling of rising anger and a notion of greater depth. It’s certainly a brilliant start to the EP and perhaps the most impressive track the band have to offer so far.

Burning Trees is far less impressive than its predecessor. It opens with a more dischordant riff, which jars slightly. There is far less of a feeling of technical control in Burning Trees, which begins to feel like two separate songs midway through. There are certainly effective elements – each growled verse is crushing and the clean chorus is one of the powerful parts of the EP – but it confounds more than illuminates. That said, the breakdown at the end is positively bloodcurdling.

Bastard Son brings the EP back on track though. It possesses the complexity that Burning Trees has but utilises it far better. The middle instrumental section is deceptively sedate before throwing itself wholeheartedly into a crushing chorus of ‘bastard son!’. Indeed, Bastard Son potentially shows off From Afar’s musical prowess best as they knit together high-octane riffs and echoing, atmospheric chords with ease. Building up to a damning crescendo, the EP ends on a triumph.

From Afar are definitely one to watch. While the release isn’t quite perfect yet, there’s a huge amount of potential here because the parts that do work are positively explosive.

3.5 out of 5 high fives!

Singles Roundup (June 2012)

This week, we’ve had a veritable feast of singles headed our way. This is what we thought…

This Year’s Winner Is – When In Rome (2.5/5)
Isle of Man pop-punkers This Year’s Winner Is haven’t quite hit home with their latest single. Woefully underproduced, they’ve let themselves down with a fuzzy, fairly unintelligible track. If you strain closely, there are some very catchy verses, some fun breakdowns a la Set Your Goals and some cracking, yet highly Americanised (though not whiny!) vocals but it’s just really hard to hear all those elements without turning the volume right up and trying to sift through the crackling, even on decent quality headphones. Here’s hoping their next affair is a lot better mixed, as they show potential and the score would have been a fair bit higher if I could easily tell what was going on.

The Roughneck Riot – Ignorance Is Easy (4/5)
The latest offering from The Roughneck Riot hits you with a bang. Taking a departure from the typical folk-punk formula, they fuse both genres effortlessly without compromising either. It’s great to hear some electric guitars getting involved, I have to say. There’s an awesome banjo solo about midway through and some brilliantly aggressive vocals forcing you to get up and get busy. A fantastic idea of what’s to come from the debut album, The Roughneck Riot have got it down.

Jaya The Cat – Here Come The Drums (4/5)

Despite the reggae influence, Jaya The Cat’s latest single is in no way chilled out, instead becoming a rousing battlecry. There’s definitely some cool keyboard coming through, but the real highlight of the song is the simple, yet anthemic chorus – lots of na’s, lots of drums, lots of awesome. The instrumental section in the middle is also pretty rad with some sweet distortion effects and overall, bound to get you dancing down the front. No doubt I’ll be singing this for days, Here Come The Drums is definitely my single of the week.