Fuck yeah, about time too – I’ve finally got something by a British emo rock band. I’d liken it in a ways to that Kerosene 454 album I reviewed a while back – very much brooding and complex, but capable of exploding into intensity and noise at a moments notice. They have an extremely cool vocalist too. She is capable of both moments of louder singing, as well as a rather lovely drifting and dreamy style that is quite hypnotic in a way.
Once I’d figured out which was the A-side, I was able to determine that it leads off with “Denial of Vice”. There’s a lot of K454 in this, particularly in the guitar parts of the slower sections. And the slow parts contrast with the much more crushing heavier bits. Top quality. “Heightened” starts off in a slow way with quite heavy guitars that remind of Far, and has some more classy vocals. Kind of ‘haunting’ in a way. Flipside effort, “Appraisal” is just as good – mixing the slow dreamy bits and the intense rock to great effect.
This type of music can take a bit of getting into, but that’s no reason to dismiss it out of hand. And its reassuring to discover that there are bands doing this sort of thing out there in little old England, rather than just treading the tired old paths of rock music that so many plough in their desire for commerical success.