Citizens - Try Smiling - 7

Labels: Wolf Among Wolves
Review by: Oli Saunders

This is an enjoyable debut from this Scottish band. Two really strong tracks and two instrumentals which are nice enough but kind of act as filler for me really. But ‘Don’t Be Late’ and ‘Melted’ are pretty awesome frenetic hardcore songs with plenty of melody in the mix too. The riffs on ‘Don’t Be Late’ are great, everything flows together and the shouted vocals work well too. Two members contribute vocals, sometimes individually and sometimes together. Their different vocal styles combine effectively. ‘Melted’ plays along similar lines, again frantic with occasional breaks of calm.

Back to the instrumentals, they are decent but I can’t help feel they would be vastly improved if vocals were added. Just my opinion but they don’t quite hold their own compared to the other two tracks. Fair enough if the band want to write songs with no vocals but it’s just not my thing. Overall though the record is really solid. The band are playing in Sheffield and London at the end of the month so check them out if you live nearby!

6th August 2009