Labels: self released
Review by: James Williams
These guys hail from London and play melodic hardcore. This is their debut EP.
Opening track Cowardice starts with a piano intro that makes me think it’s gonna
break out into dubstep, thankfully it doesn’t. Instead you get While She Sleeps
inspired melodic hardcore, with throaty screams and angular guitar. This form of
hardcore has been getting a bit of mainstream radio play recently, which could be
viewed as a good thing as long as the genre doesn’t get too overblown. I can certainly
see plenty of people bro-ing down to this at live shows. The opening two songs on
Worth Living sound very similar, without much in the name of variation but third
track Ends At The Nape is a big improvement. There are some great atmospheric
guitar riffs, melodic guitar flourishes and gang vocals. The song structure also
improves too, although they still rely quite heavily on breakdowns. The interlude of
Southall gives a brief breather from the brutality and it flows straight into Recovery,
which makes good use of that piano. There’s a slightly euphoric slant to the music
that Keepsafe play, that would come into it’s own if you were stood on top of a
mountain or about to Base-jump off an inner city skyscraper, at 5am in the morning.
It’s a strange analogy I know, but just run with it. Sore Eyes presents some of the
djent inspired riffs that Keepsafe hinted at earlier on in Worth Living, but these are
only used sparingly, which is no bad thing. Keepsafe have made a decent EP out of
Worth Living, which will appeal to the kids more than the hardened metal/hardcore
fans. It’ll be interesting to see how these guys develop with their next material.