Miss Chain and the Broken Heels – Uh Uh/Standing the Night

MC&TBH_RingMasterReview

Breeding some tasty Americana/country-esque flavouring in their garage pop sound, Italian outfit Miss Chain and the Broken Heels recently ended 2016 in fine style with latest double A-sided single Uh Uh/Standing the Night. It was a year seeing the band stepping out from a quiet time after the release of second album The Dawn and extensive touring in 2015 as members pursued solo careers, built a studio, and just simply took a breather. Now they are ready to go again and after some shows earlier this year set about getting body and spirit dancing with their new two-track offering.

Uh Uh instantly bounds in, its initial lively melody carrying an appealing tang as boisterous rhythms flirt and entice. That countrified scent swiftly lines the infectious proposal, its body stirring up an appetite for fifties rockabilly and sixties power pop while entangling it in modern imagination and boldness. Flirtatious and mischievous in energy and sound, the song is web like in its lure, vocalist Astrid Dante charm and enticement before the similarly infectious lure and imagination of her and Disaster Silva’s guitars.

Bringing a calmer, though no more reserved proposal, Standing the Night swings seductive prowess around ears from its first melodic breath. The welcoming rhythms of bassist Franz Barcella and drummer Miracle Johnny alone ensure feet and hips are involved while the beckoning tones of Dante and surrounding harmonies brag ears and imagination as freely. There is a Pauline Murray (Penetration, The Invisible Girls) air to Dante’s voice and with its country spicing the song reminds a little of Fool, The Only Ones track the English vocalist featured on.

Produced by Brown Barcella, Uh Uh/Standing the Night is an irresistible ‘return’ of Miss Chain and the Broken Heels and an enjoyable appetiser ahead of a third album currently in the works.

Uh Uh/Standing the Night is out now via Bachelor @ https://misschainandthebrokenheels.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/misschainandthebrokenheels

Pete RingMaster 17/01/2017

The Replicate – A Selfish Dream

Jan18

artwork_RingMasterReview

A riveting mix of progressive and technical death metal, A Selfish Dream is one of those releases which may not have you falling back in love with the genres breeding it but certainly inspires a new appetite to go exploring them and the inspirations to the project such as Death, Cynic, Atheist, and Carcass. The new EP from LA based band The Replicate, it is a brief imagination stroking, ear striking proposal as unpredictable as it is highly enjoyable.

The Replicate is the brainchild of Sandesh Nagaraj whose CV includes being part of nineties Indian death metallers Myndsnare, Extinct Reflections, and Stranglehold. Uniting with a host of friends for his project, guitarist/bassist Nagaraj needs little time to grab the imagination and keen attention with A Selfish Dream, its opening track casting a web of sonic and technical temptation.

Chainsaw Of God instantly wraps a spicy groove around ears, a persistent lure soon joined by a canter of robust rhythms and the raw throated rasps of guest vocalist/lyricist Morgan Wells. His irritable yet compelling tones stand astride the driving beats of Ray Rojo and Nagaraj’s nagging riffs. It is a tenaciously magnetic affair especially when grooves with clinging spice entwine the impassioned ire of the track and a solo from William Von Arx which brings an almost sinister cosmic shade to the outstanding track.

The following Eugenicide has its own suggestive drama in sound and presence, grooves again evocatively wrapping the senses with an almost picturesque quality as the predacious gravelly tones of vocalist Jordan Nalley trespass ears with his rich words. Also featuring the dark alluring basslines of Kaitie Sly, the track is an absorbing, haunting assault as different in nature and captivating enterprise to its predecessor as it is similar in compelling invention.

A rawer edge and climate descends through The Saline next, its initial sonic intrusion the spark to another virulent canter twisted into a passage of varying energies and unpredictable imagination. Arun Natrajan takes on vocals and lyrics for the EP’s third song; he also providing a rapacious growl within a controlled yet tempestuous surge of enmity and corrosive yet inviting sound.

Completed by the short instrumental of its title track, a shimmering piece of emotional starkness, A Selfish Dream is as gripping as it is imposingly intrusive. Its briefness of length is the only niggle, each song successfully never pushing its stay but combined providing a mere ten minutes of excellence; a moment in time admittedly very easy to replay and en joy time and time again.

A Selfish Dream is out now @ https://thereplicate.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/thereplicateband

Pete RingMaster 18/01/2017

As The Sun Sleeps – As Good As Gold

Jan18

as-the-sun-sleeps-promo-shot_RingMasterReview

The As Good As Gold EP from British pop punksters As The Sun Sleeps might be lacking a couple of ingredients or so to evade being truly spectacular but there is no escaping that the five-track offering is highly enjoyable. The band’s sound is warm and decidedly catchy, in many ways living up to the EP title in its general niceness. It could benefit with real attitude and belligerence to its character for personal tastes but with rousing choruses and bouncy energy there is little to stop an appetite blossoming for the band’s sound and open potential.

Based in Swindon, the seeds to As The Sun Sleeps were sown in 2013 with the creative union of vocalist/bassist Joe Beck and drummer Tom Shrimpton. By the end of the following year the band found its stability with the addition of guitarists James Broadbank and subsequently Tom Rees. The single Nostalgia sparked fresh interest in the quartet which the Never Stars EP at the start of 2016 pushed to greater heights alongside a growing reputation for their energetic live shows which included a tour with Junior. As Good As Gold is the band’s most accomplished and striking release yet, the growth in the band’s sound and writing swiftly evident.

as-the-sun-sleeps-cover-artwork_RingMasterReview Opener and the band’s new single Beering quickly grabs ears with its cheerful air, guitar and the melodic tones of Beck its initial coaxing quickly joined by the singer’s meaty basslines and Shrimpton’s swinging beats. As the track hits its bouncy stride, riffs and hooks flirt with the imagination as Broadbank’s backing vocals offer strong support to Beck. As most tracks there is something familiar to the encounter, a New Found Glory meets [Spunge] spicing teasing away in this case, but it adds to rather than defuses the inviting and captivating potency of the song.

Florida follows with Shrimpton’s arms a blur as beats eagerly lay down potent bait as riffs and Rees’ melodic leads entangle ears. Again there is no evading the infectiousness of the feel good proposal and particularly its rhythmic tenacity as it takes best song honours before Forever Sick uncages its own lively and firmly catchy enticement. Again Beck’s bassline grabs attention but so too the spidery web of melodic enterprise from Rees amidst enjoyably punchy beats and the strong if growl lacking vocals.

The only thing stopping What Matters Most from making a matching impact is its similarity in melody and air to its predecessors yet still it has feet shuffling and pleasure awake with its emotively honed poppy endeavour while closer Nothing But Net simmers and bubbles as fiery melodies and energy light its croon. The final pair provides the weakest songs on the release but leave satisfaction full with that earlier mentioned potential again boldly apparent.

The As The Sun Sleeps is missing a snarl or two and the band has yet to find its uniqueness but with songs like As Good As Gold offers, it is going to be a fun ride as the band targets that destination.

As Good As Gold is released January 20^th.