The Stand Your Ground EP from British post-hardcore band Shouting Signals is one of the more accomplished and fresh sounding releases to come out of the genre in recent times The debut five track feast is a blaze of fiery melodics, sturdy rhythms, and passionate vocals brought with honed craft and thoughtful enterprise, with only the fact it has not quite a distinct enough voice yet to rip the band wide apart from other genre related contenders as the only slight dent in its impressive armour.
The Essex quintet of vocalist Bertie Scott, guitarists Rikk Malice and Scott Baker, bassist Tom Clare, and Jay Wilding on drums, has been on a steady rise since forming in 2011. Constantly working on their sound, unrelentingly honing it and their craft, the band has inspired a growing loyal fanbase through their energetic live performances which has seen them gigging with a hunger around the south east and London. The band has been compared to the likes of You Me at Six, Architects, and 30 Seconds To Mars, and their first release certainly does nothing to dispel those potent references. Stand Your Ground is their first strike in to the larger national awareness, a release which easily reflects the time and effort which the band put into it to make sure every surface, note, and emotion it offers was of their finest imagination and skill.
Opener Never Run Away tells you all you need to know about the band, rich melodic guitars sounds with a sonic fire and 
thumping rhythms taking mere seconds to persuade and entertain the ear with an urgent energy and feisty passion. Carrying a jangle to their touch and acute textures to their voice the guitars of Malice and Baker flame and snake around the senses with inventive imagination to secure strong attention, whilst the bass and rhythmic enticements of Clare and Wilding respectively cage and drive it with not exactly unbridled aggression but with a firm intent. The vocals of Scott though stand with their own rich stance, his tones and delivery openly impressive and a big factor which along with their instinctive ability to create invigorating sounds to see the band in a clear spotlight of their own in the future.
The following Breathe In, Breathe Out and One Forty continue the strong and engaging start, the first unveiling brazen melodic enticement and again, what is to be a constant across the release, fire to its passionate appetite to excite and provoke the listener in their emotions. The guitars and vocals dominate with quality and power with the rhythm section pulling it all together with excellent ability but production wise it would have been nice to have the bass especially finding a stronger clarity and presence in the mix. The second of the pair opens with its sinews rippling within bulging riffs and crisp punchy drum beats alongside more shards of guitar sonics, which niggle and agitate the ear enjoyably, and the now expected great vocals of Scott. Though neither song matches up to the strength of their predecessor, both further the brewing magnetised hunger for their creative encounters.
All My Answers is an excellent slice of acidic and inciting melodic rock with a strong whisper of Lost Prophets to its impacting presence, the choppy riffs and suggestive bass groan showing the depth of the invention within songwriting and how to wring every idea of its purest essences. The best track on the EP, it hustles and bustles the ear with a raucous breath and seemingly untamed energy all keenly sculpted by the skilled talents of the band.
Closing song The Penitence is another major highlight of the release, a song which shifts its stance constantly with a fluid and strikingly impressive mastery. With the bass finding its deepest growl and allowed to share it with more openness and great vocal harmonies employed alongside the rich expression of Scott, the track is a powerful and thrilling end to an equally enjoyable release.
Shouting Signals is a band to watch very closely and, as the Stand Your Ground EP proves, enjoy along every inch of their certain rise.
http://www.shoutingsignals.com
RingMaster 30/03/2013
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