SPOTLIGHT: Larrakia - Self Titled

So here we are in what is the third brand spanking new Melodic Hardcore offering I've been lucky enough to be able to listen to recently. This third set of song comes by way of an introductory affair for Larrakia, a band who I have been unfortunate enough to miss seeing in person on a couple of occasions despite sharing billing with them in some cases! I knew going into this that I would like what I would hear due to them having released a few super cool videos leading up to this EP.

I'll get this out the way as usual. Of course I like this. I rarely (EDIT: never) review music I don't like, but how does this offering hold up to bands I would consider their peer group. Bands like The Human Project, Darko, Dead Neck, Almeida and my newly crowned favourite band PMX? I'll do the usual and measure this up against genre tropes I've come to expect from these bands.

Straight off the bat this is more of a straight up skate-punk record than many of the others in the list above. Whilst still retaining the insane levels of tightness and the technical guitar work that are a hallmark of the Melodic Hardcore crowd this feels more at home in amongst Fat Wreck collections. I get nostalgic feelings of listening to Strung Out and Face To Face listening to this. Whereas others are more hardcore or more thrash this is very close to the heart of skate punk. We still encounter the odd metalish breakdown, especially on the second track For What It's Worth, and the general pace over the course of three songs is blisteringly fast. Larrakia have managed to create a sound that both allows them to stand shoulder to shoulder with the bands that would be considered similar but at the same time differentiate themselves enough to not feel stale or like a re run of something we've heard previously.

Song wise, Feel The Burn is a feel good record that no self respecting punk should live their life without hearing, it's got energy to spare and is something that can quite happily live on repeat all by itself. For What It's Worth is an anthemic shout a long belter with the aforementioned metal esque breakdowns. Cruel To Be Kind is kind of my favourite out the bunch, a real flexing of the bands technical muscles and a great song to behold over and over.

Conclusions then. Larrakia are a band that should be on everybodies radar now. Their songs are expertly delivered and immensely entertaining to listen to, they are a credit to any punk scene you choose to associate them with and pay a loving homage to all the music I loved as a teenager. Fast, fun and instantly enjoyable. Larrakia will be taking over a scene near you soon.

SPOTLIGHT: The Drunken Ramblings - Dialectics

The Drunken Ramblings are a band I stumbled upon one night in Harrow after guitarist Victor told me he'd give me head for letting them play a show I was putting on. That show turned out to be the catastrophe known only as "The Junction disaster" and also the head was shit.

TDR are a band that put on a live show that has to be seen to be believed. Just imagine a drummer with a broken hand still smashing double time beats with a thousand mile stare only too much tremadol can give you, a guitarist who spends more time airborne than a migrating duck, a lead singer who is somewhere between a hobo and Jesus and bass player who is probably sleeping with your girlfriend right now. Smush these together and the Ramblings are born. It's an experience that can't possibly be described using our clumsy language but I'm not talking about them playing live today, instead I'm gonna talk about their almost new EP Dialectics, a term I just had to google but that I like very much now I know.

If you're one of those people who have seen TDR live then you may well be expecting this to be an 8 minute wall of noise and shouting but you would be very much mistaken. Dialectics is actually more of a thoughtful and considered record, never rushing to get to the end or desperate to be heavy enough to confirm to what the punk police are telling us is the correct distortion level. You'll find carefully laid down guitar licks and melodies which sit nicely underneath vocals that are deliberately not deliberately out of tune and time, rasped out in a stylised mumble much akin to Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong.

The Rancid parallels come quick and easy when listening to this record, but nothing is derivative enough to be able to pinpoint anything too specific which allows TDR to still shine on their own merits rather than being an outright tribute or parody. Standout tunes for me are Saturday Morning which is just the perfect punk rock chill out tune and End of the War which has an accompanying video my daughter is obsessed with and showcases lead singer Daves other talents outside of just songwriting and audio production.

It's worth talking about the audio quality of this entirely DIY record too. for something recorded in basic practice rooms and bedrooms it's awesome to pay attention to the clever flourishes and extra but understated tracks which never overpower the songs but always lend themselves very well to the overall feeling of the album. 

In conclusion this record is a charming and fun slice of punk rock life and the definition  of a "grower", something that only improves the more you listen, one for all the family to enjoy (as long as they don't mind hearing the odd fuck here and there).

SPOTLIGHT: Almeida - Social Media Circus

I'll admit to my shame that I've not checked out Almeida before, even though we've shared the same bill. I don't know why I never got around to it as I've seen them on the same bills as Darko and others of my favourites lists for a while and knew something of them being a band I'd probably enjoy. I guess you can just only check out so many new bands at a time. Anyway I feel guilty now and will be making a hell of a bigger effort to catch them in future, the reason is that my first ever taste of Almeida was this EP.

I feel like it gives me a nice perspective not having listened to anything by them before, yet holding them up to the Melodic Hardcore "Do I like it" template that I have done with their peers. It's not exactly going to be fair as it's fairly well pointed out that Almeida are "Progressive Thrash" and not Melodic Hardcore. What's the difference? well lets get into it:

This EP opens with the standard metal riff opening that I earliest remember MUTE doing in The Raven and thats become a fairly major staple in the bands I like to listen to. This time though it's goddamned hardcore, like way more than anything else I've heard. This opening really sets up everything you can come to expect from the EP and is actually a stroke of genius by the band. From the metal turned up to eleven opening gambit which then switches to a major key double time guitar solo and into alternate death metal growls and more standard skate punk vocals, you will have decided within twenty seconds of listening to this whether you'll like the record. Also there is a cough and you'll miss it Father Ted reference. Good stuff.

The album then settles into it's skate punk/melodic hardcore stylings, albeit with an intensity that is up at the upper limits of the genre, breaking more into flat out thrash metal more than any band I've come across before. You start to feel like you've got a handle on things and the tunes stream through at a blistering pace, fast and tight and technical all throughout. Which is a real hallmark of the top end of quality UK bands playing anything comparable.

Then "A Book Of Endless Pages" happens and oh fuck, you'd better be goddamned ready. The song is FIERCE like nothing I've known in a while. It's not exactly a total change in style but the really thrashy shit you've heard up until now is just an easy warm up for this. This song is intensity bottled and is an experience all of itself. The only thing I can liken it to is the song "Such the Fool" by Sikth, It's all deep rumbling growls and blast beasts and heavy as a tank riffs.
You'd be forgiven for being exhausted by the time it's over but you're not quite finished yet, Creed comes up as the ender and doesn't dare let up the pace and fun until you could swear that you've run a marathon.

In conclusion Almeida are far more aggressive and close to Metal than anything else I would class in a similar category and they may not be your cup of tea. To those of you that feel this way, know that you're wrong and probably a bad person. Luckily thanks to an opening intro so packed with personality it registered it's own netflix account, you'll be able to make your mind up pretty quickly about whether you're in camp right or not. To those that like the band or similar acts you'll find a deeply well crafted intense ride that will bring you back over and over as you piece together the narrative that runs throughout.

p.s. I apologise for not focusing one the words and instead just letting the vocal melody sweep me along because if I had paid attention I could probably say this with more clarity but I'm fairly certain this is a concept album, since from the opening all the way to the riffs in Creed there is a circus theme running throughout the music. Hopefully someone who actually hears the words can confirm this for me.

SPOTLIGHT: Jesus Hooligan - Touch Pure Passion

A while ago I reviewed an EP from 'Norse gods with drum sticks' ensemble Jesus Hooligan. That was a musical experience I'm never likely to forget, something so intense and against the grain that I quite happily threw myself into a feast of Touch Pure Passion - the bands (quite) new album. Admittedly I found it difficult to pull myself away from the brand new PMX EP, but like them good old pringles I popped and then couldn't stop!!

Now I've talked about these guys before, so I'll dispense with the overlong description and instead go for something a little lighter on the pallet for the TL;DR crowd.
Jesus Hooligan is the kind of music that absolutely defies any modern genre convention and instead opts to completely re write the book on everything we've come to expect from music. Part Tribal beatdown, part blues, part Danzig, part sea shanty, part rock opera, part Clash. They are at once no music that's come before and the building blocks of everything you've ever listened to. It's hard to imagine what I'm talking about until you hear it for yourself and I very much suggest you do.

Anyways on to the album. Now As I mentioned I have previous experience with the JH crowd. The "Feel" EP being a journey into guttural roaring to the sound of the earth grinding on it's axel which was both pleasing to take and utterly unforgettable. It's was quite the expedition and I fully expected this to be no different. What I found though was a slightly different kettle of fish. There's more in here that we could would consider popular music. Songs such as the opening Death Of Me and I Don't Wanna See That Woman No More are pretty close to being straight up rock songs, with some old school rock and roll slide guitar in there and a structure we would all recognise. This is the lighter side of JH and would be good starters for introducing the band to friends. Then there are tunes that left me literally short of breath listening to them, and I'm sat at a desk. Songs like Woman Girl and Girl are an assault on the senses with those tribal drums crashing and the didjeridoo to a pace that must be a real spectacle to witness live.

There is an ever prevalent sense of humour I love flowing through here too. It's smutty as hell but never disrespectful, crude but not at the expense of others and shocking but only to the prudish and uptight. In essence something anyone can get behind and enjoy. Lyrics like "When you're in my bed doing things with your head" are positioned directly next to an almost instrumental drum beatdown which proclaims " For I Will Love Her" over and over with a beautifully haunting turn of Mr Hooligans real life wife singing the reprise back to him. This sense of inclusiveness is an ethos the Hooligan tribe seem to hold very dear in their hearts and it comes across as endearing for a band of fearsome dudes pounding on the foundations of the world!! You're only likely to be truly offended by what they say if you do indeed have the body shape of a Wheatabix!

All in all this is something that is worth checking out if only for the fact  that you've probably never heard the like before or will after. Personally the fun in this recording, that sounds like they just played so loudly next to a record that the music was imprinted through sheer force of will, is a delight to behold and now I'm off to play Here In My Bed to my wife now to watch her knees go weak.

SPOTLIGHT: PMX - Dark Days

Just go and listen. I'll wait......

I know right? 

Melodic Hardcore is my bag. It's the only thing really in my music collection and my collection of UK bands that create this style of music are now far reaching and all close to my heart. So what's so special about PMX that puts this latest release above heavyweight contenders in the field such as Darko,  The Human Project and the many others I love with reckless abandon?

Well it has all the hallmark calling cards I come to expect from a HM record, the metalish riffs, the blistering speed of the drums, the level of technicality I can only stare at and weep as I wish I could be so talented. They're all here in spades and all with a tightness and polish that would make a grown man blush. To call PMX talented is to do them a disservice. These are musicians for which the music they create is no less a part of their body than their lungs or heart.

These things are all true and elevate PMX up to the lofty heights which I hold the others at the top of the MH spectrum, but there's more here which as personal preference elevates them to the very top of the bunch, and that's the pop aspect. As you can guess I love me some pop punk and the rest of the recipe that creates this sublime meal that is PMX is the beautiful vocals and 90s pop punk elements that glue the MH elements together. Think NUFAN circa "The Feel good record of the year", think Jimmy Eat World circa "Bleed American", think Ataris, Slick Shoes, Strung Out and Useless ID and you're on the right track. The pop here is a way of describing an accessibility to this record that I think other bands do away with or don't care so much about. This is the sort of record I'd play to my wife and she would enjoy, without a preexisting affiliation with punk rock. This makes this record a great gateway for anyone trying to convince people of Melodic Hardcores superiority or to entice someone who may have shunned it previously because bands like Forus and A Wilhelm Scream were just too much to handle straight off the bat.

Song wise I couldn't possibly pick a favourite although title tune Dark Days sets itself apart as something truly special. An almost 7 minute rock epic that left me genuinely sad that it had finished and desperate to get to it again via the rest of the tracks. It's something incredible to feel moved by a piece of music so epic in nature and construction and it makes me happy to have found it in the first place and able to hopefully share it with you all.

In conclusion if you were saving yourself to buy one single record all of this year well then you're lucky because it's right here and it's everything you could have possibly dreamed of. A roaring, soaring, heartbeat skipping, pulse pounding beautifully crafted and executed journey which I felt nothing but gratitude for being allowed to take. It's a masterpiece of whatever style of music you'd like to attribute it to and something that no-one should miss out on.

SPOTLIGHT: Demon Smiles - Amped

You may well be thinking how could somebody who is best friends with the band and also an ex member and also self styled number one fan possibly review a record by that band. To that I say HA! and BAH! and afterwards in a more wordy retort I would say that surely someone who is as intimately tied to the band without actually being in the current line-up is in fact best placed to review such a thing. We already know I like it, I only review stuff on here that I like. I have more official means of doing a totally objective review that don't live here. What I'm gonna talk about  instead is just how good the album is and what makes it the greatest Demon Smiles record to grace our ears so far.

Now I don't know where you were on February 3rd 2013 but I was sat in a dark room listening to a brand new demo by Demon Smiles. It was raw as fuck and badly recorded and rough around every edge but by God was it cool and fun and full of pinache. Since that moment I've been there to watch the ebbs and flows of the band and when things hit a low point this time last year I stepped into guitarist duties for a few brilliant months whilst they pieced back together what had fractured. Last August whilst playing with Authority Zero I handed the guitar reigns over to newcomer Jazz, a sexy beast of a man with a beard that could impregnate a hundred virgins. Then the band, whilst keeping up their relentess touring schedule, knocked AMPED out.

This new album is many things to the band. It's a heartfelt display of sadness over the end of how things were, it's a positive affirmation of all the ideals the band holds dear, it's flexing of confident muscles showing the talent delivered week in and week out in stunning live shows but more than anything else it's all the potential the band has ever shown, distilled and magnified beyond measure. Quality wise in comparison to previous efforts it is as a hawk is to the mouse it is hunting. Superior in every facet. Even returning songs are infinitely better with almost the entire vocal focus of these going to Cat, who's beautiful, powerful vocals can shine so much more when not being interceded with tuneless growls. The drumming on display here is far and beyond anything heard before, rhythms in the brand new songs being faster and more technical than ever heard on record before. The pace of this thing is nothing short of break neck, apart from the odd dub reggae breakdown. Jazz the gorgeous new kid also shines through, keeping things all tied together with a skill and precision that was sorely lacking before.

Stand out tracks on here are hard to pin down to a one or two. Penny For The Wise is already an anthem for of all of us that have had to deal with band members going south. Based on a true story there are cheeky references to other bands and other things that warrant multiple repeat listens. Impropagandhi lets us know what the new Demon Smiles is all about, lightning fast with cleaner more precise guitar work than any older fans will be used to. Then there's Fuck You, which is the band personality, built into the most fun 2 minutes and 32 seconds you can have. I've mentioned improvements in the older songs so next up is my personal favourite We Are The Weirdos. This song is an affirmation of all the band cares most for whilst decrying those would ruin it for them, the bit where it goes "I'm in love with a dead generation, kept alive in my soul" is just too cool to handle. Enemy is the skatepunk-est song out of everything on display and also a close contender for favourite with the single fastest drumming anywhere in the DS back catalog.
Keys is a tune for every victim of street harassment to scream in the face of the next prick to attempt to force themselves on someone and become aggressive in denial. I may be a dude, but having to come home and hear stories from my wife of the idiots that try to woo her with such tactics as forcing her to take their number or calling her a bitch because she refused drinks I feel like this resonates with me the most out of all the others.

So in conclusion (for the TL;DR crowd) you could throw away everything that came before and not blink, this is the real deal, the peak (so far) of what the band is capable of and essential for your collection if you are in anyway into skatepunk.

SPOTLIGHT: On A Hiding To Nothing - Self Titled EP

ok ok ok ok, So I only ever seem to write nice things about bands I like. But that's because I only write reviews for bands I like to listen to so shut your traps.
On A Hiding To Nothing first graced my earholes around February last year and you can see how much I love them playing live here.
As much as I loved them they didn't really have anything to listen to outside of hyper energetic live shows. Just a few hastily recorded samplers on Bandcamp. Nothing that the band was happy to have put their overly long name to (OAHTN from here out).
Trouble with being in a DIY punk band is that Simon Cowells cheque book is not open to you and funding has to come from somewhere if you don't have a trust fund. These gents decided to offer up an indiegogo campaign to get things going at the tail end of last year and had a pretty succesful time gathering funds from unwitting chumps ( I pledged £20). Now we get to hear the fruits of their labours and I'm pretty happy to announce that it's flipping incredible:

So Sound wise it's obvious a lot of love and attention has been given to recording this and getting it to sound just right. This is no flash in the pan demo purely sampling a live show. This is a very nicely produced affair and sits comfortably alongside anything recorded with a giant budget that might exist in my music collection. This can be divisive to some punks who like a deliberately raw sound but being that you're reading a blog with "pop-punker" in the title you likely appreciate a meticulously crafted sound.

Like any really great set of songs, from any genre this thing is layered like an onion. If you just want some excellent riffage to skate to this has got you covered with catchy hooks and double time in all the right places. It passed the "is it fun to skate to down Regent Street" test with flying colours.
The vocal melodies are sweet enough to listen to without ever having paid attention to what's being said. If you want to dig a little deeper and start listening you'll find the OAHTN sense of humour. Ever present in their stage shows and definitely part of the bands personality there is a lot to laugh about in this set of songs as long as you a free thinking individual.
That last point leads me nicely to the last layer I cared to discover in my 30 or 40 listens, and that is a scathing look at Middle Britain and the ignorance and prejudice found in this green and pleasent land. From armchair pundits to tory daily mail religionists, if you are a narrow minded, uninformed, bigoted fool then this record stands squarely in your face, points a finger and says "it aint goddamned good enough".

There really is something for everyone here and those who pledged will be greatly pleased with how their money was put to use. A worthy debut in both quality and potential for a band brimming with both.

SPOTLIGHT: Jesus Hooligan - Feel

One chilly night I sat in a dark basement in North London and watched what looked to me like a heavy metal asguardian sing sea shanties whilst beating the shit out of a stool with a huge chain. Every word of that last sentence is true and yes it was as cool as you're imagining. What I glimpsed was only the tip of the iceberg though. I had only seen a Jesus Hooligan solo effort not the full band. The band is made up of minimal boring old shit like guitars and whatnot and mostly made up of anything you can savagely hammer with a lead pipe whilst bellowing to the wind for those pussy greek gods to test your viking mettle. I was lucky enough to be sent a copy their sparkly new cd Feel. and here's how that went.


"Feel" is a lot more than a string of songs. It's a social occasion. There's a story for those to tell who may be putting it on for someone brand new to the "hooligan" experience. "What the flaming fuck is this?" one may exclaim. The answer to this is long winded and and more fun to explain the more of you  there are who know the deal. This is something to pull out at parties when you decry pop bullshit and someone says "well what do you think real original music sounds like?" or to blare down a crowded highstreet from your battered pickup to say to the world "fuck you world, I wont do what you tell me". I would say more than anything though it's a memory of an outstanding band you saw that time with all your friends and you want to reminisce about just how cool they were. If you're after easy listening or something to quietly contemplate then this isn't it. If you want to become the centre of all attention then step right up because I'm pretty sure no one in your vicinity has heard anything like this.

"Old Fashioned Love Song" kicks things and let's you know right from the get go that you won't be getting all that "deep and serious" malarky from this set of songs. from opening lyrics like "whips and chains" and a chorus that let's you know that lets the world know Mr Hooligan is horny the tone here is unashamedly crude and a little silly on purpose. The whole thing is set to tribal feeling riffs and god only knows what being pummelled in the background.
"Rain" comes around and by this point you think "of course there's a didjeridoo, why wouldn't there be". The tribal drumming kicks back up over minimalist guitars and by now you feel like you're getting the hang of things. I like to think that this is what music was always supposed to sound like. at some point people became obsessed with scales and what was technically possible and they forgot to strip naked with their neighbours and stomp around a fire at night, settling disputes by who could shout the loudest while still keeping the beat and finding the love of a woman over embers and hypnotising rhythms.
"Sweat" starts with (somehow very appropriately) the death of a guitar and the ominous boom of what I like to think of as your preconceptions being smashed to smithereens. Structure as we imagine it is another of the things that Jesus Hooligan are determined to show is something the rest of us are doing all wrong. All that ABACAB shit is over-rated and what we all need as a tonic is hollering and chants and then stop. Subject matter here I guess could be considered humanist, or pagan or even satanic. telling us that human nature is perfectly ok and that all the primping and pandering of modern culture is the truly weird freaky stuff. Underneath all that is also a quite touching love song. Beautiful stuff.
"Jame's Song" kicks straight of with more shouting at the very tops of lungs and then the drums kick off. no more guitar here. No more words. No more anything that makes up the mainstream construct of music, bands and songs that any of us think need to be there. What your brain may not have clocked onto though is that al these ideas you had about "proper" music have slowly been removed throughout the course of the last three songs so none of this seems out of place and you don't feel like you're thrown in at the deep end. You just find yourself in a place the the groove and the fact that everyone from toddlers upwards can join in.
As if the first couple of songs teased a guitar just to help you get to grips with things "I Met A Woman" assumes you're fully up to speed with this particular brand of hooliganism and feels that full on tribals are all you'll need band wise and that you'll be totally fine with lyrics like "I'd like to skin her and wear her as a coat". eventually this track devolves into primal screaming and then it ends abruptly with no apology for bending your fragile mind into gooey paste.

Then it's over and you're left shivering in the stark silence and you understand that music as you understand it is a lie and that bin over the other side of your office never looked so musical before.

SPOTLIGHT: Eat Defeat - It's Always Sunny In Yorkshire

So For the first time (I think ever) I'm going to write about a band I've not personally interacted with, bare with me because this Thug Life we call bad music blogging is about to step up a notch.

So Eat Defeat are a band that I may not have played with yet but hail from Leeds, which as far as I can tell is knocking out some of the best UK bands around right now. They've arisen from the ashes of skacore to become a power pop skate punk quartet that are doing pretty well for themselves, having toured mainland Europe and all over the UK. In fact if you like what you hear after this review why not  check them out in an upcoming February tour.

Anyways onward to the actual EP:

This thing sounds chunky like you'd expect a Punk-Pop record to, the level of professionalism here is about what I'd expect from a band who have a few releases and members from bands like Fighting Fiction. They clearly have some stripes they've earned and this is the fruit of their wisdom. The hooks here on display will let you know instantly if it's your cup of tea and it certainly is mine!! The cover is a very quick indication that if you like your music exclusively dark and brooding then you're looking in the wrong place here

"Thundergun Express" is the kicker on this EP and it's a good one, I purposefully haven't listened to the previous material yet so I don't become biased but I can only hope its as cool and powerful as this. I don't recognise the quote at the beginning of the track but by virtue of the fact that it's there I feel at home. I may have mentioned that I was a giant Midtown fan back in the early 2000s and this gives me great memories of those guys.
"Luck is for Losers" is next along and this has a pretty special treat on it. In what I assume is a nod to their origins as a skacore band they have guest vocals from none other than Barney Boom. The breakdown in the bridge is setup in the previous song as an Eat Defeat trope and helps to make the drop in tempo style not feel too jarring, the guest verse is cool and will make Sonic Boom Six fans need this in their collection. The chorus for this tune is just superb and the strongest of the three tracks. It's a real pop punk anthem without the need for too much polish or bravado, just like great pop punk should be.
"Survival Mode" rounds out the EP and the intro feels like it could go in many a direction, being a little technical and feeling like it could be used to introduce something heavy or maybe just a throwaway beginning into more pop punk. Instead the guys choose the absolute best path (in my humble opinion) and kick the pace up to a thousand miles per hour. If there's one thing I love more than great harmonies and catchy choruses over a pop punk beat its the same over double time skate punk drumming!! Being addicted to the double makes this a definite favourite for me and an extremely strong finisher both in terms of wanting to finish with a bang and for this being something that can hold it's own against other established powerhouses in the skatepunk/melodic hardcore scene.

All in all really great set of songs that I've been listening to a hell of a lot since I was pointed in their direction. It's a crying shame that I haven't played with these guys personally and I'll be looking to remedy that soon. If you think the glory days of pop punk happened before a certain band released a certain shite self titled album then you will thoroughly enjoy this. In fact if you are a fan of music in general and you want to check out a well thought out fun set of songs then this is the place you need to be.

https://eatdefeat.bandcamp.com/

SPOTLIGHT: Cereal Box Heroes - Frier

Back around September I bullied my way onto a gig line-up because I really wanted to play a show with the headliner and also DropThis were playing and Triple Sundae two awful(ly good) bands with friends in the line-up. The other band on this bill were Cereal Box Heroes (a name I got wrong a few times on the night) and as far as I know it was their first show. Well to say they knocked that shit out the park is an understatement. These three dudes who by my old man standards couldn't have been older than 8 just smashed their way through the most incredible 90s power pop punk revivalist set and instantly won the hearts of a nation. If they had just been a great band they would have still won the night but on top of that it turned out they were bloody stellar blokes too the nail in the super awesome leagues coffin right there. Shortly(ish) after they managed to put out their first EP Frier. and that is what we're here to discuss.

Get past a  gaudy cover makes a bit of a mess of the band name and you'll find that Frier feels both perfectly comfortable around all your 90s Lagwagon, Blink and Diesel Boy albums and utterly fresh and new. A little track full of fart sounds and sets the scene and if you're put off by this then fair enough, you have obviously come to the wrong place, you'll find your humourless boring person shit somewhere else. The thing that will hit you from the get go is that this doesn't just sound like a 90 punk album, it sounds like one. The production is incredible for something that is a first ever effort and a lot of care has gone into perfect capturing the era in the master.

"Forget It" is the first "proper" track on the album and it's a revelation, fast and fun with all the right breakdowns and those stops which are synonymous with the style. The second double time verse shows that these guys are fully capable of keeping up with all their idols and anything else that I  would rank highly today.
"Homewreck" is blisteringly fast and awesome fun to listen to. It just makes me smile. There's no other way to put it. This track introduces to the fact that we have two lead singers in Conor and Dom. Who's my favourite you ask? That would be telling but the difference, whilst being obvious is as glaring or uneven as Blink was and you probably wont find yourself with one voice you hugely prefer. THe breakdowns found in this track could almost be thought of as derivative, but they are played so well and with such feeling that they quite right show off a loving homage to late 90s/2K pop punk instead.
"Mudface" is the last track on the EP and again the stage is set for a trip down memory lane. These retro punk vibes never overshadow the groups talent however and this in particular would be way beyond your average vocalist in terms of complexity in the verses. The choruses then reset us back into familiar sing-along territory, something these guys understand is necessary part of writing a fun album and something they work extremely well in delivering.

The comparisons to the past, especially to Dude Ranch are ever present in this EP and in the band as a whole, but rather than clinging to an ideal or a desperate emulation of better things these guys have created something born of the same basic foundation and can now proudly rest it up against all the albums of my own teenage years. If you can't tell from all this these few tracks are really something special and if Cereal Box Heroes aren't already on your radar then make sure they are now or miss out.

https://cerealboxheroes.bandcamp.com/album/frier

SPOLIGHT: Recluse Club - Osaka Mechaslug Concern

Let me tell you a little story. Once upon a time there was a struggling acoustic musician. He was bumbling through unfulfilling shows and watching his far cooler friends rocket up to fame/imfamy and felt like he was wallowing in obscurity playing shit shows to 0 crowds for no real reason.

Just as he was about to jack the whole thing in the aforementioned friends asked some punks who were putting a show on in Worthing if that sad acoustic pop punker could play the show too. He did and then he met some excellent dudes, they liked the things he liked and were awesome and welcomed the acoustic punk as a friend and then played the most ridiculously fast music he'd ever heard and saved his musical career. This man was of course me (you can see some depressing blog posts here from when i nearly gave up) and the band that restored my faith in playing shows was Recluse Club. One of the biggest shames about this band thus far is that they previously only had one shoddily recorded demo to go by. This is now not the case as the guys have the stellar Osaka Mechaslug Concern to please your lugholes with.....

OK lets start with genre definitions. This is a toughy, but melodic hardcore hits the general area, maybe a little Refused esque post-hardcore in there too. I hear a tad of Enter Shikari too, which is awesome since they are one of my best not punk bands.

This EP sounds good. Everything sounds like it's complimenting everything else and is clean enough to  ring the vocals and harmonies nicely whilst still being raw enough to convey the hardcore nature of the band. The opening "Linear" has an almost progressive feel to it, although if like me you think progressive is a dirty word in music don't fret as it's the only instance of it, serving to nicely warm up and  build expectation of the speed fest to come. "Errors" is straight up melodic hardcore and fits in well with anything else especially that you might hear on the continent that would fit in that bracket, a good thing in my book. "Evensong" is the most classically hardcore track with this offering and if I imagine the song as a human they have the biggest balls of all the tracks which is saying something since all these guys play rugby and are firefighters!! "The Crash" is ever so far from least as the last track, it's my favourite of all due to it seeming to hit every bit of 90s skatepunk nostalgia in a technical storm of cool metalish riffage and spot on EpiFat harmonies and blast beat drumming. It's a full storm and I felt a little out of breath just listening to it.

All in all this is the awesome sound I've been waiting roughly a year and a half to hear from these guys, a brilliant effort and one that will be hard to top on the upcoming album (I may have made up the upcoming album news). Remember supporting your local scene automatically makes you 63% better than other humans in your area who don't. so jump over to bandcamp and pick this up as a blinding first catch of 2015.

https://recluseclub.bandcamp.com/album/osaka-mechaslug-concern