Browsing Tag

Deftones

Chants Would Be A Fine Thing

Posted on 25 December 2017

As alt-rock has become a testosterone fuelled battle ground trying to be the hardest, heaviest and most alternative, one thing has been lost along the way. Melody! No matter what you think of classic rock…the thing that alt-rock inversely defines itself against, you could sing along to it at least. What if a band came along that blended the modern alt musical trappings with the accessibility of music from an older time. Well, The Chance do just that.

Won’t Let You Go sits in a sweet spot for rock music, the tune is memorable, the vocals infectious, and the melodies pass the acid test of lingering in the brain long after the track has finished. But it also has enough modern grit and rough edges to appeal to the black clad modern age rocker. This isn’t alternative rock at all, this is evolved rock, rock music which has learnt the lessons of the past and moulded it to the fashions and tastes of the modern music fan. How hard was that? Consider yourself schooled.

You Win Again Gravity – And the winner is….

Posted on 24 December 2017

The fabulously named You Win Again Gravity are one of those bands that more you dissect and try to unpack the music, the more you wonder just how they fit some many ideas, so many genres, bend so many rules and jump so many musical boundaries, all in such a small space. Grace and Focus is Tardis music, seemingly easily defined from the outside but mind-bogglingly expansive once you get inside the door.

Most post-hardcore bands follow fairly well defined lines, all grunt and no grace, all brutality and no beauty, You Win Again Gravity are just the band to redress such a balance. Yes, at their sonic far end they have no shortage of heavy, bombastic sounds and guttural growling, but what is more interesting than merely being amazed at their top end performance is how they get there. And they get their through musical textures which are progressive without being mere technical show boating, through the deft melodics that link between music set pieces, through meandering riffs which are interesting rather than histrionic. This is the sound of Post-Hardcore music growing up, finding its feat and joining the musical conversation. I guess we will need to find a more eloquent name for it now.

The Zero Won’s New Track “Lights” Will Definitely Hypnotise You

Posted on 14 November 2017

The Zero Won are a band from Athens with a very distinctive sound, bridging a link between indie pop and disco through hypnotic sonorities and mesmerising vocals. With a strong electronic influence in their sound, these guys have something fresh to offer and upon first listening to their new track “Lights,” one of the primary things which is noticeable is the image evoking quality in the music. All the elements are blended so well within the texture that the sound created has the ability to take you on a visual journey just by listening to it. In fact, I personally can’t wait for a music video to accompany the song.

Apart from the mesmerising and hypnotic quality expressed in the music, “Lights” also features a variety of sounds ranging from delicate guitar countermelodies, big synth sounds, pointillistic percussions and a strong melodic line in the vocal part. This, in fact, results in a memorable expressive chorus which drives the music constantly forward. As the song reaches the end, momentum is built up towards a final climax which is literally an explosion of sound featuring all the interesting elements of instrumentation chosen and combining everything together through a great mix. Listening to this song is just a hypnotic experience from start to finish.

-Sarah Marie Bugeja

Crisis King – Tonight – If You Thought That Extreme Music Could Not Be Eclectic, Think Again!

Posted on 3 November 2017

Crisis King is an artist with a fondness for hard-hitting metal, post-hardcore and industrial tones. His recent studio work, Tonight, is an EP that features 6 original songs. The artist’s music explores genres as diverse as hardcore, industrial, new-metal and more, going for an eclectic, yet direct sound. Opening number, “Die Easy”, is an extremely powerful wall of sound that feels like a stampede of vikings, crushing and burning everything in their path. The song has powerful drums and loud guitar riffs that are down-tuned and aggressive, perfectly matching the vocals.

The dark lyrical themes on the songs of the EP are also a great match with the album’s production aesthetics, but there is also room for melodies here and there.

“The Tides” highlights the group’s most melodic side, yet it still features hard-hitting drums, loud guitar walls and serendipitous changes. Throughout the span of these 6 tracks, Crisis King really stand out for the diverse approach they are able to bring to the table, exploring different sides of their musicianship and offering up an EP that feels eclectic, yet extremely direct, just as you would expect from a band such as Crisis King!