Cove – A Conscious Motion

By RingMaster Review on March 27, 2018 • ( 1 )

A Conscious Motion sees UK outfit Cove releasing their sophomore EP, a proposition announcing the Kent hailing quintet as one highly promising addition to the hardcore scene. Melodically inflamed, the 2016 formed band’s sound has a real sense of adventure to its character suggesting the potential of major uniqueness to come they continue to grow. As the new release shows, it is already a thoroughly enjoyable proposition from a band hungry to push themselves.

A Conscious Motion reflects on themes “such as the pain of loss and the challenges of soul-searching and acceptance” and features the band’s latest line-up of guitarists Pete Woolven and Ben Brazier, bassist Charlie Smith, drummer Jack Bowdery, and new vocalist Ben Shorten. The band linked up with Oz Craggs at Hidden Track Studios for the EP, reuniting with him once more for five tracks which has seen “a little piece of everyone in each song, something we didn’t have before and this has definitely broadened our sound.”

The EP opens with Coincide:Collide, a track which lures intrigue and increasingly keen attention from its first rhythmic tapping. Quickly guitars loom over that continuing bait, their tides of riffs and grooves dark and slightly portentous but wholly enticing. The quickly impressing tones of Shorten soon intensify its appeal, a Deftones-esque breath becoming tenser and more imposing as the track unleashes its roar. As mentioned, Cove is tagged as hardcore with an alternative bent but as the first song on the EP reveals, at times it is a far more flavoursome mix.

The EP’s best track is quickly followed by a just as compelling offering in Solis. From its first breath, ear gripping grooves work their bait, vocals a caustic alignment as rhythms pounce with aggressive tenacity. Harmonies and melodic flames add to its brewing temptation, punk scowling similarly infusing the adventurous tempest. As the first, it gives suggestion of a real appetite to push their boundaries, the band not content on just repeating the well-received but less individual exploits of their first release.

Recent single All I Believe is next, the song a blaze of sound and enterprise which as the first track begins with a mellow air over simmering discontent; a volatility subsequently erupting with voracious intensity and craft. Vocals again strike a rich engagement whilst grooves and a brooding bassline only add to the blossoming captivation. Though not connecting with personal tastes as quickly as its predecessors the senses bracing blaze of sound made a compelling persuasion as it grew to match their temptation.

The atmospheric instrumental of Host provides a dark calm for the imagination to play with before Reflect:Resolve closes things up with its incitement of wiry grooves, rhythmic tempting, and emotive vocal ferocity. It too makes for an alluring agitation if without quite reaching the heights of those before it, though at times the song tempts with a majestic touch which it never quite sustains across the whole of its nevertheless fully satisfying presence.

Cove has strived to find their own identity in sound with A Conscious Motion, to stand out from the crowd and though they have some way to be truly unique, the quintet has definitely found a new character which warrants keener attention. The EP is a potential ridden affair from a band moving in the right direction towards becoming a renowned integral part of the European hardcore scene; right now they are certainly one of its imaginative and enjoyable additions.

A Conscious Motion is out now through iTunes and other stores.