Creeper EP 2014

Now a lot of you may have not heard of Creeper, however you would be wrong. Featuring members from Our Time Down Here and Hand The Bastard these five talented mucissans make up a brand new band which goes by the name Creeper. Forming around early June this year Creeper have already released a small taster of music to indulge us into their energetic punk sound.

Released	19th June 2014
Recorded Record Label	2013/ 2014
Genre	Punk
Length	18:00
Origin	Southampton
Rating	10 / 10

You will be happy to hear that previous vocalist from OTDH, Will Gould is carrying on his role, penetrating a new sound into a new band. Going straight into vocals we are hit with a soft crisp voice, that soon gets added to a bashful encore of instruments picking up the pace with its catchy head bobbing beat.
We Had A Pact proves to be an excessive opener, as the thundering chorus catches you in high spirits while the bridge takes you down slowly into a peaceful guitar solo. The song takes you on a happy journey that ends similar to the chorus, keeping you gripped for more.

Gloom follows next, again marking their straight intro, the band bashes pure punk rhymes that get you moving instantly. The small breakdown of gang vocals echoing in the pre-chorus adds to the build up for the chorus to be as powerful as it is. You can definitely hear the previous mesh of the two bands shining through, however formulating their own twist to call themselves Creeper.

VCR is a song you can imagine yourself stage diving and going mad to. A distinct banger you would want to hear live. Gould takes a higher step in this song, changing his strain on words to produce such a strong and solid sound throughout. Packed with fury rifts and nonstop movement, this melody proves to be one of the highlights, exploring the bands craft.

With two more songs left Into The Black delves into the harsh textures of punk building up more speed and activity. An adrenaline rush hits you as you reach the end to a spectacular find. But it's not all over yet because the last song, Novena sets in with a soft strings of an acoustic guitar, playing a light melody that is joined by Gould's powerful voice, that peaks and turns in all different strains to produce harmonic pitches.
The constant juxtaposition in his voice creates such complex structures and tales that are being told, strengthening this song to be filled with mixed emotions right until the end where the full band accompany to construct a marvellous finale of unison.

Overall I can say that this has been one of the best EP's to come from 2014, as it caught me right away without a second listen, how I can't seem to STOP listening to it. 10/10 for everything, it works so well as an EP and there are no flaws to be explored as I just can't wait to hear more sounds.

If you can't get enough of them then why not catch them at their first ever show as a band this Friday 1st August at the Joiners Southampton?! Get your tickets for cheap here, very limited ones left!

                                            (You can download the EP free of charge here)

10 Tours not to miss this summer!

AUGUST

Backtrack (GIANTS, YOUR DEMISE 2004)
What more really needs to be said here, 3 superb bands. Also a chance to see the hype about YD2004.
Tickets only being £8 at the fighting cocks in Kingston, it's gonna be a sweaty night.

Turnstile (ANGEL DUST, BELOW, MANKIND, NO REST)
Playing at the Underworld Camden on the 7th.
Hardcore heaven. If you like heavy groovy mixes and up for a manic night then get your ticket.



 

 Deez Nuts ( TRC, COUNTING DAYS, LOUIE KNUXX)
Playing at the Borderline London on the 13th.
Finally a chance to see Counting Days live, alongside Londons own hardcore's finest TRC who bring a mixture of rap and hardcore, producing new fresh sounds.

Worthwhile ( ELEPHANTIS, SHOWYOURTEETH)
Playing at the Garage London (upstairs) on the 19th.
A band that I have been waiting to come over and tour, Worthwile are from the states, producing angelic melodic sounds, along side harsh vocals. Elephantis follow to be a suitable support, keeping a solid build up for the tour.

'68 (Palm Reader, Baby Godzilla, Employed to Serve, Inarchives)
Playing at the garage London on the 17th.
Mainly would go just for Palm Reader and Baby Godzilla as Godzilla are known to put on a show. If you haven't seen this band live before, make sure you do before it's too late as no word can describe their live performances.






LA DISPUTE ( TOUCHE AMORE)
Reading warm up show at the Scala 21st.
What more could you want honestly? La Dispute and Touche? It's just perfect, if you're not going to Reading or Leeds then this is a show for you, or even so go again.

DEADBOLT festival (MANCHESTER)
Brand new to the scene, Deadbolt's first year opens its door to the Sound Control in Manchester for just £10. If you want to catch some upcoming local bands who are seriously underrated then this festival seems like a great deal. Roam, Astroid Boys and Giants are looking to be top for me.




VALES + GRAYSCALE + WHALE BELLY | The Black Heart, London | 19th August
Tickets are only £7, and who doesn't like a good old pub gig? 18+ and sick line up.
Recommend going to see Grayscale if you're into indie emo or a fan of Basement.

SEPTEMBER

The Front Bottoms (PUP)
Finally we get to see a UK headline tour from the New Jersey band.
Proving to be smashing on the Brand New tour, you don't want to miss out on this.

Giants (ROUGH HANDS, HINDSIGHTS)
Playing at the Barfly London on the 11th.
You don't want to miss this tour. If you still haven't heard of Giants then give them a listen right away, but they're another band that you have to see live to give them justice. Energetic, skate punk infused with Hardcore beats, supported by two similar acts.

Cytota (ZOAX)
With support from Zoax there is no reason why you should not go.
Another top band who are all about the performance and making the audience feel involved, Zoax never fail to disappoint or scare the shit out of you, go check it out for yourself.

Modern Baseball ( Spraynard, Chewing on Tinfoil, Losing Sleep)
Back in the UK again this year, we're lucky enough to hear more tunes from the Phili band.
Top band live, for cheesy jokes that aren't funny and just a great interactive night.

Me Vs Hero (ROAM)
Playing London o2 Islington (Upstairs)
Ending the summer and heading back to school you may as well squeeze one more gig in and what better way to celebrate a new semester with this tour.
Two top class pop punk bands. Also Roam are supporting and they haven't stopped touring since the start of this year so check out their hard work.

More Than Life - What's Left Of Me

Released	14th April 2014
Recorded Record Label	2013 Holy Roar
Genre	Post Hardcore/ Emo/ Melodic
Length	33:00
Origin	South West
Rating	9 / 10

More Than Life are that band that you really cannot hate. Bringing some of the freshest sound whilst showing off the UK's melodic talent, MTL are definitely up there on bands to watch out for. With a great success from their previous record Love Let Me Go in 2010, the 4 year gap has done many wonders for the band in producing such a solid unityof sound to follow What's Left Of Me.

Opening the emotional journey with Asleep, which consist of an intricate interlude that is repeated behind the strain of a screaming guitar, it sets things right into the MTL style of Weight Of The World which has as brilliant gradual drum beat that works its way to your ears, so that it's joined by a catchy guitar riff before joined by vocalist James. Taking passionate screams along with this soft chaining vocals works in harmony with the edgy howls that explode passion and hatred as well as an emotional connection with the raw feelings that went into this song. Instrumentally wise, it was pretty strong as it matched the exact atmosphere of the song, creating high tension peaks at all the right parts.
The chorus being my favourite part of the song as "FUCK THOSE WASTED TIMES" geta you so involved into the song that you just let yourself flow with it. The bridge then adds to the build up of all the emotions going on as it catches them slowly letting them go into bitter speeches ending the song with a heighten advantage.

What's left Of Me again picked up on this, trailing a fast beat that catches you instantly, filled with such complex structures, the song slows down so you can catch your breath before returning to its heighten speed, keeping you alive and bouncing along throughout.
Finally breaking out through one of their famously aggressive bridges, creates the perfect balance of rage which transfuses into a much more steady outbreak of screams that are filled with even more passion and history.

A heavy lyrical theme which has been present in their previous songs however What's Left Of Me carries this out in a much stronger and impacting way that it's implanted in your brain with a first listen. Sung with such passion and tone as you can actually feel James's voice break in every song is a perfect example of how talented and dedicated the band is. You don't get such detail in a vocicalist however James prove to be unique and numbing indeed. Whenever I listen to More Than Life, there's just something about them that sets them apart form any other band, it's the raw sound that hits your ears as it comes from the heart, the overall music that they make really does show this.

Picking you back off your feet with Seasons Change provides the lime light the drums as it focuses on themfor a while keeping the song together before James vocals tear you apart. What really breaks me is the next song releaed a while before the album as a single.

Do You Remember is the one song off the whole album which hits me hard.
Right from the intro you know the song is going to be a strong one, as soon as the vocals set in you can already feel the sadden rush taking over as the harmonies of the two vocalist sync with each other giving of a holding on broken feel. It's the broken screams that James shouts "STAY AWAY FROM ME" that really hits deep. Actually feeling broken inside whilst this song plays, the lyrics are so easily relatable as they're about your teenage love and it being broken a few times. The constant battle screams get louder and stronger as you feel them slap your face hard, along side the soft whispers that juxtapose with the narrative. Ending the song brings everything to a close with one final outbreak that gives you one final scream of leverage of relief.

Who would have thought that "I love you more than life" would actually be a lyric but in Sometimes it actually appears towards the end of the song, heightening all trapped emotions to escape, perfectly used and in line with the song this lyric works strongly as it's also a favourite touches they've added.

Ending the album off with Love Is Not Enough adds a new acoustic guitar melody that softly settles into more sadden violin strums that add to the albums authenticity.
In my opinion they couldn't have ended it better, being a suprise from them as we would expect James worn out screams, it was a nice peaceful touch MTL added, proving the 9/10 rating I have given them.