Reaper In Sicily: Horizons

   

    Combining powerful and contagious energy with intensive melodies and squalling passion, the new single from UK rock band Reaper In Sicily is a potent lure to their debut album Islands due for release in June. The album has been the focus of strong anticipation and the first single from it, Horizons certainly does nothing but cement the strength of expectations and intrigue for what it will unleash.

Formed in 2009, the Aberdare quintet took no time in making a mark, the band winning the best unsigned live act award in Kerrang! Magazine. With a sound which has been compared to the likes of The Blackout and Rise Against, their first acclaimed single We Are The Show received strong radio play and its video good TV exposure. Unfortunately in 2010 guitarist Matthew Jenkins was diagnosed with leukaemia so the band went on a hiatus until he was well enough to re-join and play with them again. On their return they lit up the Reading and Leeds festivals with impressive performances and continued their growing stature with the Eden EP. This was followed with equal success by the Chapters EP and extensive tours around the UK with bands such as Kids In Glass Houses, The Subways, Max Raptor, Attack! Attack!, Mallory Knox, Hawthorne Heights, Fightstar, The Xcerts, Straight Lines, I Spy Strangers, Evarosa, and Hildamay. The end of 2012 saw Reaper In Sicily enter the studio with Romesh Dodangoda (Funeral For A Friend, Kids In Glass Houses) to record Islands with Horizons the first striking piece of enticement.

The single takes mere seconds in filling the ear with thumping rhythms from drummer Damon Miles accompanied by the thick tones from the bass of Mike Evans. This potent core is wrapped in fiery guitar coaxing from Jonny Chappell and Jenkins their instinctive sounds caressing and provoking in equal measure. With the expressive vocals of Rhys John Bernardo bringing their emotive lilt to the enticing encounter, there is a continual strength of variety and passion to the song which alongside the thoughtful songwriting, enthralling weave of inventive, and emotionally heated sounds ensures a full engagement with its heart and inviting surface.

The song is catchy without being obvious and intensive without losing its melodic fluidity and richness. Arguably the song also lacks a truly distinct voice to step far from other similarly forged bands but such its strength and imaginative intent it is right now certainly not an issue. Most importantly the fine song leaves no option but to investigate Islands upon its release and keeps the rise of Reaper In Sicily boiling nicely.

https://www.facebook.com/reaperinsicily

7.5/10

RingMaster 22/03/2013

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Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

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Come The Spring: Seven For A Secret

    Seven For A Secret is the debut release from UK band Come The Spring, a six track mini-album which openly ripples with enterprise. It is a release to which recognition of its potency and accomplished craft in songwriting and sound is easy to state but despite all its strengths there is a feeling of lost opportunity with the band failing to ignite any strong passions with its presence.

Hailing from Brighton, Come The Spring has drawn plenty of attention and fervour towards themselves since forming in the middle of 2012. With members who have the strong experiences of being in bands like Rydell and My So Called Life previously, and also sharing stages with the likes of Hot Water Music, Greenday, Nofx, Texas is the Reason, and Braid, the quintet hit the ground running and soon drew the attention of Engineer Records who release this their debut. Musically the band craft a sound which is rich in the essences of bands such as Hot Water Music, Fightstar, The Gaslight Anthem and more, that possibly the reason the release did not ignite the fires inside which one was expecting considering the brewing excitement around the band, their sound having a too strong a similarity to others.

Conditions opens things up strongly with its initial sonic embrace soon joined by firm beats and an eager wash of striking guitar caresses. As the rich and expressive vocals make their presence known, an infectious hook veins the track to help ensure the song is a lingering pleasure. Into its stride the melodic flames of the guitar and rich tones of the bass standout along with the vocals to enthral and satisfy making an impressive and promising start to the release.

The following Northern Star contrasts the keen energy of its predecessor with a restrained and emotive gait. It is a gentle encounter with a certain passion which brings crescendos within the expressive breath of the song. The bass with its melancholic and exhilarating downcast voice steers the stormy atmosphere and reflection of song and its heart into a compelling company for ear and thoughts. As its moves towards its climax, the song shifts and raises the heat with good variety and invention and across its length evolves into a magnetic long-term treat.

The following Patching the Cracks Doesn’t Make it Foolproof and Readbeforeyouwatch both offer capturing elements which entice and infect the passions but equally neither can sustain the effect as they employ familiar underwhelming loud whispers to wrap around the stirring moments. Despite that the two tracks do hold attention and thoughts firmly in their grasp during their company and it is only after that they disappear from view and memory too easily for the fullest of satisfaction. Again as in all songs, they do not leave the listener short on skilled musicianship and passionate songwriting and again help to breed a strong sense and promise that the band is moving on to major things and releases in the future.

      The State isn’t Important as Long as we’re One is the weakest song on the release, a track which passes by without inspiring any real reaction though again it is sculpted and presented impressively and makes a decent enough lead in to the excellent closer Statues. On military driven drum recruitment and angular guitar riffs the song strikes up sparks of real pleasure with its contagious energy and melodic beckoning and ensures as it began that the album ends on a high.

Come The Spring seems to be tagged as post hardcore but stand more as a melodic punk/alternative rock band, though they do recruit other strong flavours to their creative cause. Seven For A Secret is an appealing debut from a band which you can only see unleashing some very notable releases ahead. This album is not quite one itself but for an introduction easily inspires the wish to keenly investigate future efforts whilst in the now makes for an enjoyable to spend your time.

http://www.facebook.com/ComeTheSpring

6.5/10

RingMaster 22/03/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

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Decode

UK rock band Decode begin 2012 in the same vein they graced the previous year, with a fine release in the shape of new single Before We Burn. To be released February with an  excellent accompanying video, the track shows a band on a strong rise and one that crafts music with minute attention and passion. Previous EP Shaping Shadows from 2011 announced the band as ones to watch with its fascinating blend of big rock sounds, engaging melodies, unpredictable twists, and metal edges. The new single cements all previous thoughts whilst placing Decode as a band on the verge of greater heights.

The Sheffield quartet (a five piece live) have recently linked with Ambicon Records and one can only feel things are falling into place for a band already acclaimed for their music and vibrant live shows. Their sound is a heady creative mix that recalls the likes of Fightstar and Taking Back Sunday as well as Manchester band Our Innocence Lost and label mates Down The Machine. The guitars of Adam Mintram and vocalist Daniel Jeffery rampage through tracks whilst bringing stylish and often intricate melodies and variation. The band are not afraid to add swooping keys and haunting strings either to make each track an experience that holds something new no matter the amount of times you listen to it.

The single opens on an emotive guitar before harsh growls lay on top leading to excellent smooth vocals from Jeffrey. The frontman’s delivery is expressive and controlled, the song’s passion dripping from every word, and assisted by the equally strong vocals of bassist Lewis Wild their vocals are as compulsive as the sounds surrounding them. Before We Burn is littered with rock hooks alongside its metallic aggression and though these never slip into the obvious they are easily digestible and mesmeric.

The single is a natural progression from the Shaping Shadows EP, the track feeling an easy fit with the songs making up the previous release. This does not mean a lack of progression just the high quality of the band’s songwriting from day one. Released April 2011 the EP is a bustling and exciting collection of songs. From the opening title track the release unleashes everything the band possesses from power and aggression to creativity and melodic intricacy. With sing-a-long parts and teasing hooks the song is an instant invitation to the band and their stirring rock sounds. The bass of Wild is deep and taunting, playing with the senses whilst drummer Daniel Greasley wonderfully softens up the ear with deliberate and skilled abuse and the guitars unveil their musical twists and turns.

‘Your Country Is Ours’, ‘If Only (We Live To Tell The Tale)’, and ‘The Days After You’ carry on the great and attentive quality whilst the striking and excellent ‘Enemies’ punishes and pleasures with equal measure and intent. So far every song unveiled by Decode has the ability and desire to rile up the senses whilst treating them to soulful melodies and infectious excitable energy. This energy that floods from the recorded tracks gives eager thought and anticipation to the impressive live force they must be and the carnage they unleash.

One still feels there is much more to come from within Decode to really define their sound but they are already leaving many other bands in their wake and 2012 feels like the year they will become the focus of a great many more enthused ears.

For a free download of the Shaping Shadows EP go to www.soundcloud.com/decodeuk

RingMaster 24/01/2012

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