Energy Alchemist – Reminder EP

Adding to the list of fascinating proposals made this very year is the new EP from US quartet Energy Alchemist. It offers three tracks which within their electronic rock tagging embrace the essences and rich strains of metal, dubstep, and heavy and progressive rock amongst numerous flavours. It ensures each song is a tapestry of style and unpredictable enterprise delivered with a craft which together ensures that the release and Mendocino County, California based band stand out.

The brainchild of vocalist/guitarist/programmer Bill Hankins, Energy Alchemist is completed by vocalist/guitarist Julian Sterling, bassist Erik Koski, and drummer Matt Heath. Earlier this year they released their well-received album Ghost in the Machine, an encounter creating dramatic weaves of sound and styles upon a rhythmic adventure as bold and captivating as the imagination wrapping it; an adventure now built upon by the Reminder EP.

It opens up with its title track and instantly Reminder entangles ears with its electronically bred almost skittish beats and the tantalising tendrils of synths. As vocals join melody casting guitars in the blossoming track, a spicing akin to The Kennedy Soundtrack reinforces its lure. It is a tempting further increased by the brooding tones of bass and a scuzzier lining to keys with beats continuing to provide their hungrily persuasive and often unpredictable touch as the song twists and turns. It is a wholly magnetic affair which impresses more and more with every listen, revealing an entanglement of new creative hues and spices with UK outfit Axis Mundi brought forth at times as a hinting comparison to its electronic trance rock exploits.

The following Way Too Late similarly has attention quickly held, the two prong vocal enticement of Hankins and Sterling a potent invitation into the brewing drama of sound where metal nurtured riffs and electronic endeavour unite with a funk lined tenacity. That steel edge continues throughout the song, often giving it a bite and intensity which its predecessor lacked to take the Energy Alchemist down a fresh avenue without losing their creative fingerprint. As the guitars and bass, keys explore a broadening canvas where progressive hues combine with rave/dubstep inspired electronica to infest the imagination and match the pleasure spawned by its companions.

It is a reward especially powerful with closing track Flush, the song an apocalyptic trespass aligning strains of industrial metal and predacious heavy rock with electronic suggestion. It is also a web of warm temptation and poetic melodies which skilfully contrasts the raw heart and frame of the song, an invention further exploited by the stringed seduction and vocal dynamics interspersed within the imaginative ventures of guitars and synths.

Taking best track honours, it brings the EP to a fine and rousing close. As the other pair, it suggests that the Energy Alchemist sound is far from being the finished article but such its potential locked into the band’s already open craft and imagination and their sublime fusion of varying styles, an appetite for the band’s music is increasingly unavoidable.

The Reminder EP is out now @ https://energyalchemist.bandcamp.com/album/reminder

https://www.energyalchemist.rocks/    https://www.facebook.com/energyalchemist1

Pete RingMaster 24/10/2017

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Beware! Monsters – Friend or Faux

An invigorating kaleidoscope of sound amid rousing creative dramatics, Friend or Faux is the debut album from British outfit Beware! Monsters. It is an encounter bred on a fusion of electro infused rock ‘n’ roll, rap, drum ‘n’ bass, and dubstep; like a fusion of Hadouken!, G.R.I.M, and Abandon All Ships but swiftly finding its own character in a provocatively fun album with a snarl in its heart and lyrical suggestiveness.

There is also a more than light touch of Semitt Falls to the Manchester band’s proposal which is no surprise as Beware! Monsters features former members of that band in guitarist Paul Kendrick and bassist Sidge Rushton. In fact vocalist Jay Kane was also one of the founders of the unpredictably inventive Semitt Falls, linking up once more with former band mates and newcomer in drummer Corentin Neyran for a new adventure in 2016. Beware! Monsters swiftly found eager appetites devouring their boisterous sound live and subsequently with Friend or Faux and its enjoyably intrusive and bold sixteen track proposal.

Book ended and broken up with ‘skits’ of evocative aural suggestion, the album starts proper with Make Wubz Not War and a deliciously heavy bassline with funk in its heart. As electronic and guitar cast essences attach themselves, the irresistible coaxing leads ears into a lively stroll abound with rock bred devilment and electro enterprise. With Kane’s rapping an equally persuasive motion in the thrilling scheme of things, the song sparks thoughts of previously mentioned Londoners Hadouken! and fellow Mancunians G.R.I.M but as also suggested earlier shows plenty to forge its own identity.

A mightily anthemic trespass on body and imagination, the great start continues with Truth, a milder mannered encounter sound wise but with a bite to its words and an underlying defiance to its intent as melodies seduce and rhythms bounce. Rushton’s bass again is an imposing treat more than matched by the frantic urges of the electronic antics around it and Neyran’s tenacious beats.

A wonderful nagging quality is shared by Kendrick’s guitar in the following Higher, its riffs and grooves a magnetic persistence supported by funk fuelled rhythms and an instinctive catchiness brewed in quick time by the aligning of individual revelry. With a touch of Axis Mundi to its body, the fiercely enjoyable track is followed and eclipsed by Beware of the Monsters, a pop rock scented affair with classical strains in its melodic endeavour and rapacity to its captivation loaded rock ‘n’ roll; it ultimately a resourceful carnival with the snappy raps of Kane as its side show barker.

The brief Project Dystopia is a similarly alluring affair at ease either snarling or roaming through ears in a reggae graced haze before making way for the punchy dynamics of A Long Way From Home, a track epitomising the album in the diversity of styles and textures employed in its imaginative carousel. Though it lacks the same spark as its predecessors for personal ears, the song is a compelling and skilfully woven proposition before the short almost gothic lure of In Ravens We Trust pulls intrigue into the waiting drama of We Are The 48. The track is another rock heavy slice of goodness with a predatory edge to its rhythms and vocals amidst the entwining of fiery grooves and smouldering melodies.

The Messengers of Deception rumbles and grumbles next without skimping on veins of seductive melodic enticement and its own distinct web of rousing creative espionage while No False Idol smoulders around another earthy bassline as an Enter Shikari meets Electric Six escapade blossoms into something fiercely unique and explosive to Beware! Monsters.

The cosmic toned A Revolution in Progress stirs the senses and emotions next, its intimate yet worldly challenge a tempestuous blend of rock and metal as at ease gently caressing involvement as forcibly stirring it up, all with a craft and invention which sets another certain highlight within Friend or Faux.

Closing with The Haunting is Over, a short evocative instrumental, Friend or Faux is one of those striking debuts which lingers in ears and thoughts long pass its presence. Certainly some tracks surpass others but from its first eventful second through to its suggestive last, the album is an impressive introduction to a band already outshining its member’s previous successes.

Friend or Faux is out now @ https://bewaremonsters.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/bewaremonstersuk/

Pete RingMaster 11/01/2017

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

G.R.I.M – Progtronic EP

Provocateurs already renowned for leading the body and imagination into diverse and adventurous stomps soaked in a lyrical fervour and experimental voracity, UK band Great Riddims In Mind have nurtured a new steel and maturity in their explorations. It is a growth which provides a rich core to the band’s new Progtronic EP, an evolution as potent and gripping as their increasingly addictive sound. The upcoming release reaps all of the mouth-watering and riveting essences of its predecessors but develops them with the band’s most composed and striking ingenuity yet. Already a relentlessly inventive and incendiary proposition, the band has sculpted in the shape of Progtronic, a creative tempest where intrusive unpredictability, uncompromising imagination, and raw passion are an unrelenting norm.

Better known as G.R.I.M, the Manchester quartet began in 2011 and were soon stirring up attention and appetites locally with their raw and fiery fusion of dubstep, hip hop, rock, drum and bass, and plenty more. A wider spotlight was switched on by the release of the Sounds Like These EP last year, the acclaimed debut reinforcing the already potent reputation the band has earned for their live performances in their home city and beyond. Earlier this year the single Answers was uncaged, the track with its maelstrom of textures and bordering on psychotic invention strikingly hinting at the new step in the band’s evolution, something the new EP confirms and stretches even further.

Opener G.R.I.Mtro throbs with electro resonance in its first breath, the second bringing in an equally pulsating lure of vocals as synths expand their hues and beats darken their persuasion. It is a gentle but imposing entrance, the band almost leering into the imagination whilst holding a whisper of belligerence in every note and syllable shared. The track meanders from this point as if searching for its switch, which when found sparks a still restrained but strikingly colourful stroll, the rhythms of drummer Kyle Larkin a low key stalking alongside similarly predacious lines from bassist Nathan Larkin. Vocalist Lance Hargreaves dances mischievously over this web with the guitar of James Glenn almost egging on his revelry as synths flirt with magnetic and sinister persuasion. Though suggested the song never explodes; its tension simmering forcibly in voice and sound but holding check for the main, before evolving into the following Grill Me.

The second track emerges with a similar melodic tempting and structural baiting but is soon binding ears and thoughts with the impressive vocal prowess of Hargreaves and the sonic adventure brewing up in the rest of the band. There is a sense of bands like Hadouken and the now demised Janice Graham Band, but whereas on the first EP these were loud comparisons they are mere spices for reference in the new vat of creativity and originality fuelling Progtronic. Badgering and seducing senses as well as thoughts with its bubbling tenacity and inventively lively canvas, the fascinating proposition whips up the appetite into a hungry greed ready for the outstanding Terrorisms, a lyrical and musically striking track which sways with seductive and rugged elements simultaneously. As with the previous pair of songs, there is a control to the intensity and urgency which embraces the frantic and deranged creative fervour of previous releases, but channels it into a just as invigorating and fascinating success and protagonist. Thickening its climate with funk and jazz seeded winds, the track enthrals and sparks the imagination with sublime ease, whilst ears and emotions are immersed in a perpetual and thrilling tantalising.

There had to be an outbreak of unbridled devilry at some point on the EP, and they come with the final two tracks. Metanoia comes first, its entrance also calm but within a tempestuous climate of stormy emotion. Vocals and bass riffs find a home in ska and hip hop planted fields whilst the caustic rub of guitars and keys provide an early agitation and inflammatory air to the building inflamed passion of the song. A midway breather of just a single melody and vocal is the spark to a flirtatious and reggae bred striding, this in turn firing up further the vocal melodies and pulsating adventure of the scintillating offering. A moment in time that surely nobody can resist, it has feet and moves soon enlisted and lurching with the pulse and temptation of its presence.

Final track Him Without Sin is an immediate blaze of vocal rapping and sizzling sonic endeavour which in turn brings in a ridiculously contagious swagger of riffs and hooks, all diversely spiced and virulently enticing. That earlier mentioned frenzy within the band is a rampant toxicity in the song but again under a precise and impressive measure. It does not stop it, as all tracks, being irrepressibly anthemic and ferociously incendiary but allows the just as hard hitting lyrical commentaries to firmly place their potent grips too.

Another ravenous treat, Progtronic is a new turn in the emergence and sound of G.R.I.M, a milestone on their increasingly certain and creatively inflammatory ascent.

The Progtronic EP is released on December 2^nd.

G.R.I.M will be holding the EP launch party @ Joshua Brooks in Manchester on December 2nd with sets from special guest MC’s, and supported by Eyes Like Twenty

For more info check out the band’s official website @ http://greatrhythmsinmind.wix.com/grim

RingMaster 21/11/2014

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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Manumit – Digital & Hostile

Creating a sound which is fresh and striking whilst employing a wealth of familiar essences from a healthy array of genres, Welsh solo artist Manumit follows up the success of and acclaim for his previous singles and EPs with debut album Digital & Hostile. It is an enthralling proposition which entangles rich elements of heavy rock and electronic invention with equally potent strains of amongst many dubstep, drum n bass, and post hardcore. Released via Lost Generation Records, Digital & Hostile is a thoroughly compelling proposition which ebbs and flows a touch in its still success but never submits to predictability whilst exciting ears.

Brought to life in 2012, the Bridgend, South Wales hailing project took little time in grabbing attention and keen recognition. Manumit’s first EP F**k Genres, Love Music soon woke a hunger in fans and potent interest from the underground media upwards for his sound whilst the music video for the track Walk Away soon become a centre of attention on the likes of Scuzz TV. Subsequent singles and videos emulated that early success and bred a stronger anticipation for the band’s first full-length. Bringing those earlier singles together with a host of new songs, Digital & Hostile is a ten track adventure which from start to finish intrigues and flirts with the imagination.

The release makes a gentle opening with the intro of Sacrifice, a guitar making a lone evocative coaxing within a colder atmospheric drift of sonic whispers. It is a thoroughly engaging start to the track soon making an even stronger seduction with the excellent vocals of Manumit. The song simmers in the warmth of melodic rock at this point with a folk lilt to the vocals and melodies yet all the time in the background you sense something is brewing and moving towards the foreground of the song. It arrives in a fiery blaze of electro rock, Pendulum immediately coming to mind as the track bristles and rages within the pulsating embrace of its electronic invention. It stops itself from being a replica of existing propositions though with the continuing of the excellent melodic rock enterprise unveiled earlier in the song and the great vocals which also employ post hardcore antagonism in their delivery.

The track is a strong and appetite sparking start which the following Walk Away easily continues. It also opens with a gentle emotive stroking, a piano this time casting its melodic beauty over ears and imagination swiftly joined by the again deeply impressive vocals. There is a touch of Coheed and Cambria to the start and it too is brought into an electro maelstrom of temptation though with a stronger lilt to the heavier rock side of the track this time. Vocal squalls add to the wide texture of the song whilst the aligning electronic endeavour brings a mesh of Nine Inch Nails meets Skrillex to its striding triumph. As with its predecessor, it does feel like the track is one spark too short in its fire, never exploding into the rigorous tempest you expect and hope but it does not stop either from making a thoroughly enjoyable and impressive start to the album.

Do The Right Thing also glides in gracefully, its exotic tempting on an electronic breeze almost Peter Gabriel like. In no time it erupts with raw emotionally charged vocals within a thick and inventive weave of electronic incitement, all veined with heavier rock riffs and rhythmic provocation. Vocally the song is as superb as those before and after, the strength and expression of Manumit a striking given success across the album, whilst the expectations evading twists of the song and the classical elegance of keys within the bustling sonic storm is at times bewitching. It is another very potent proposition for the main matched by both Everything Changes and When I’m Gone. The first of the two is a flowing persuasion of electro rock with plenty of tenacious essences from both sides of that mix in its evocative stroll whilst the second is a gentler but no less busy croon of emotive keys and electro radiance splintered by an array of punchy beats and incendiary guitar designs. Maybe the least impressive track so far it nevertheless is an infectiously captivating song showing the strength of the album.

Another diverse twist comes with the album through the magnetic balladry of Your Body Giving Up. Fronted by the glorious and seductive tones of Tanyth Roberts, the song is a sultry flame of atmospheric tension, melodic drama, and electronic intrigue which makes more of a lingering impression and success than an upfront persuasion but emerges as one of the most riveting songs on the album. Its enslaving provocative charm is followed by the energetic stomp of Can You Hear Us? From a nintendo-esque opening, the song bursts into a rampant charge of electronic and heavy rock tenacity, merging the electro punk roar of a Jensen with the more mischievous virulence of a Hadouken or Axis Mundi. It is an irresistible contagion which is as antagonistic as it is anthemic, and the best track on the release.

The raging urgency continues in Abuse Of Power, its raw challenge lyrically and musically tempered by the melodic vocals and electronic designs which seduce the imagination as much as the quarrelsome textures and hardcore tones within the proposition. Elegant keys also add to the drama and though the track does not grip as many others, it is still a masterful persuasion before making way for The Passing Of Nothing. It is a track which starts much like the opening pair on the album, from its delicious harmonic and melodic initial touch evolving into an electronic and vocal blaze around a stirring sinew sculpted slice of rock. You are never too far from thoughts of Pendulum with many songs but with the numerous other flavours flowing through them, here a Spineshank like industrial metal spicing at play, Manumit takes every song into a distinctive corner.

Closed by the transfixing Afterflow which from a underwhelming start emerges as another engrossing incitement, thanks predominantly to Manumit’s fine vocals and a steely anger to the song’s body, Digital & Hostile is a formidable and richly pleasing release. Whether it is as intrusive and raucous enough to match its undoubted potential is one for the individual but Manumit has shown himself with the album, to be one of Britain’s more creatively dynamic and exciting prospects.

Digital & Hostile is available via Lost Generation Records on 1st September @ https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/digital-hostile/id883699098 and other online stores.

https://www.facebook.com/manumitofficial

Live Band line-up: ( Manumit – Vocals/guitar/keys/samples;Skullfunk – Vocals/MC;Larusso – Guitars, Bandit – Drums.

8.5/10

RingMaster 01/09/2014

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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MANUMIT goes ‘Digital & Hostile’, from 1st September‏

Welsh solo artist Manumit is poised to unveil his explosive debut album, Digital & Hostile on 1^st September, through Lost Generation Records, a release which be an anthem for anyone looking for originality.

In an increasingly over saturated market, every fan, record label, radio station, music channel and magazine are screaming for something new. Manumit is certainly that. Spawned in 2012 and coming at you from Bridgend, South Wales (home to the likes of Bullet For My Valentine and Funeral For A Friend), Manumit has strived to bond genres whilst sculpting  genuinely distinctive songs that pull you in from their first breath.  Taking from a plethora of influences, ranging from Alexisonfire and Paramore, to Nine Inch Nails, Pendulum and Nero, whilst drawing from the fundamentals of dubstep, drum n bass, and electro and fusing them with cutting edge rock, metal, and post-hardcore, Manumit has amassed a sound that packs pulsating rock riffs with thoughtful melodic vocal and synth vocal work, all broken up by brutal digital breakdowns. The end result is an original onslaught of contagious, anthemic tracks that are loaded throughout with intricate dynamics.

Mamumit hit the ground running with the release of both his debut EP ‘F**k Genres, Love Music’ and his first music video for the track ‘Walk Away’; people across the world couldn’t help but take note. Turning industry heads, ‘Walk Away’ made it to the Top 10 Fresh New Videos on Scuzz TV, coming in at No. 2 ahead of Bullet For My Valentine, Biffy Clyro and Limp Bizkit, among others. Following this, Manumit went on to release two other singles and videos for ‘Can You Hear Us?’ and ‘Afterglow’, all of which were extremely well-received and also featured on Scuzz TV.

On September 1st 2014, Manumit will nationally unveil his hugely anticipated debut album ‘Digital & Hostile’ through independent imprint ‘Lost Generation Records’. A DVD featuring all music videos, interviews and live performances is also available alongside the album, which consists of ten killer slabs stemming from past singles ‘Walk Away’, ‘Can You Hear Us?’ and Afterglow’, as well as seven new tracks. The album takes you on a breathtaking and formidable journey, and it’s destined to break Manumit into the national sphere.

– MANUMIT RELEASES ‘DIGITAL & HOSTILE’ OUT ON MONDAY 1^st SEPTEMBER THROUGH ALL GOOD STORES –

https://www.facebook.com/manumitofficial    https://www.youtube.com/manumitofficial

The Karma Party – Illumination EP

Last year The Karma Party unleashed one of the most thrilling confrontational propositions with the Dark Matters EP and now they return with another voraciously captivating and antagonistic incitement in the shape of the Illumination EP. Continuing the ferocious blend of punk, dub, and hardcore infused with plenty more invigorating flavours, which marked out their last release as an essential moment of 2013, the UK quintet has honed their ‘punk-step’ incitement into an even more inventive and evocative adventure. Without losing the snarl and bite of their politically charged lyrical intent, there is a new maturity and exploration within their songwriting and sound as evidenced on the new EP, an evolution which again results in an irresistible stirring up of thoughts and emotions.

Hailing from Blackpool, The Karma Party as mentioned made a potent and imposingly striking introduction with Dark Matters last year, surrounding and following it with a live presence which was as much a lure to the passions of fans as their release. Touring extensively with bands such as Random Hand, Dirty Revolution, and Jaya the Cat, the band in between EPs additionally recruited guitarist James Routh, also the bassist for Sonic Boom Six, into the line-up of vocalist Marc ‘Merc ‘ Walker, guitarist Liam Carroll, bassist Dave Cowley, and drummer Luke Hesketh. Now The Karma Party as expected go for the jugular with their new release, a commanding encounter which sets ears aflame, thoughts provoked, and passions stirred.

Opening track World War instantly proves the band has lost none of its antagonistic prowess musically and lyrically, emerging from distant scenery with electro enticing it erupts into a muscular imposing of jarring rhythms and jagged riffs entwined with sonic grooves. Shards of electronic expulsions litter the growing landscape of the song all the time whilst the vocals of Walker and the band prowl with provocative intent across the brooding drama. It is not as dramatic an entrance as you might surmise but a severely compelling one which soon adds extra seduction through the smooth croon of Walker before unleashing a sinew clad bounce of contagiousness for the chorus. There is an edge of King Prawn to the track once into its full stride as well as the insatiable revelry of Sonic Boom Six which maybe was inevitable with Routh producing the DIY release, but also a rawness which adds an extra lacing of causticity and attitude. The song continues to engage ears with shifting invention and thoughts with its firm yet not preachy lyrical narrative for a thoroughly captivating and potent start to the release.

It is a beginning soon taken to another level with the following Under Surveillance. A track which carries an air of Asian Dub Foundation from around their Punkara album, it opens with a delicious carnival like tease of sound which is soon stomping with contentious resourcefulness and devilry. It is a mesmeric introduction enhanced by the riveting throaty sound of Cowley’s bass. Into its keen punchy stride, the song stalks and inspires the imagination addictively, vocals pushing the honest narrative whilst guitars and keys create a web of infectious mischief and commanding intimidation which like the emerging invention simply ignites the senses. Easily one of the most imaginatively virulent persuasions to come along this year, the track steals the passions with ease.

Democracy offers its own belligerent sound and scathing vocal incitement next, the track as raw as it is adversarial. From a relatively underwhelming start, compared to its predecessors anyway with the production less sharp than elsewhere especially around the vocals, the track brews up a punk bred endeavour which soon takes its own specific slice of the emotions. Riffs and hooks almost taunt with their temptation whilst keys and melodies bring a toxicity which flourishes within the punk challenge and a subsequent dub- step enterprise. It is a strong and rigorously convincing track but one which feels pale against the previous tracks and the next up End of an Empire. With a ska seeded jangle of riffs and pungently probing swipes of rhythms aligned to thought challenging vocals, the track toys with band harmonies and floating melodies from the keys to impressive effect before building a climax which fires up the senses with agitated energy and sonic vivacity.

The EP is closed by its title track, arguably the most boldly inventive song on the encounter. Piano and vocals with reflective expression and melodic balladry open up the track before growing a bloom of energetic pop infused incitement which is as catchy as it is surprising. The track reminds of now demised band Dead Til Friday who themselves crafted a spellbinding melodic seduction of a song which startled from the band’s more expected direction. The Karma Party though is not a band to let the listener settle easily, turning the elegant poise and magnetic suasion of their song into a fury driven rabidity to match the attack of the lyrical side of the track. With metallic riffs and badgering beats crowding ears as forcibly as the vocals, the song is a dramatic treat which until its last breath persists in wrong footing and exciting its recipient.

It is a strong and potential loaded shift in the band’s sound, and one which probably takes a little longer to tightly grip than the songs which raged in first release. But with a striking boldness to their growing invention and that ridiculously captivating flair The Karma Party has for igniting everything from ears to feet, imagination to emotions, Illumination is another excuse to hail its creators as one of the UK’s seriously impressive and exciting bands.

Illumination EP is available now digitally @ https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/id904057478 and physically @ http://thekarmaparty.bigcartel.com/

http://www.thekarmaparty.co.uk/

8.5/10

RingMaster 12/08/2014

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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Axis Mundi – Sci-Curious

If debut album Chapel Perilous was the gas cloud holding the seeds to their genesis and the Science Junkie live single the spark to their expulsion, Sci-Curious is the big bang thrusting UK’s sound adventurers Axis Mundi into global recognition. An incendiary merger of aggressive rock, voracious rave, and untethered dubstep just to suggest some of its blistering invention, the band’s second album is a coming of age, a realisation of the potency in songwriting and sound which tempted before whilst breeding another strain of potential to even greater heights. A roaring celebration of science with insatiable riffs, hooks, and melodic predation, the album puts an already irrepressible proposition into the arms of essential investigation and devouring.

The trio of drummer Matt and guitarist/vocalist Gary Frewin with lead vocalist Shaun Garner first emerged in late 2008, taking little more than a year to become rated as one of the top upcoming bands in the UK. Originally a quartet, Axis Mundi earned an acclaimed reputation for their live performances and emerging songs. Already holding a passionate appetite and exploratory intrigue for all things science and its battle against the likes of politics, religion, and apathy, the Hinckley band worked closely with best-selling science author and New Scientist writer Michael Brooks during his election campaign against Hinckley and Bosworth MP David Tredinnick. Their first EP Find the Others caught strong waves of attention but it was with Chapel Perilous that the band really sparked a wider appetite for their sounds within the underground scene and subsequently more established media spotlights. Sci-Curious though makes it all seem like just the appetiser before its own main meal.

Through an attention raising Introduction, the album erupts with the instantly transfixing and highly animated opening shimmering of E-Bomb. Synths merge on the senses with sonically drenched colour and vivacity from its first breath, tempting the senses in league with increasingly tantalising sounds. Into its energetic and fiery stride the track dances around ears with a dervish like enthusiasm before settling into a more relaxed stroll within which the melodic tones of Shaun unveil the song’s narrative as infectious guitar toxins bred by Gary entwine their shadowed bait around the imagination. The sounds are as provocative as the lyrical view and its look at the turning away from scientific truths from those which choose to be blind. A masterful blend of electro alchemy and compelling heavy rock, the track is a magnetic tempest setting the album off to a tremendous start.

It is a potent entrance swiftly taken to another level by Movie In The Mind which emerges from the finale of the previous treat. Like a side show barker, Shaun coaxes in thoughts as a great niggling rub of guitar skirts his tones. The rhythms of Matt join the revelry soon after, his precise jabs adding to the unpredictable and intriguing showmanship of the song’s initial gambit. Just as immediate is the contagious air to the track, its irresistible call wrapping every note and syllable of the punk and metal kissed canvas beneath the subsequent rampantly swirling keys. Whereas the its predecessor had a feel of the Pendulum to its character, this plays at times like a rapacious merger of Pop Will Eat Itself and Enter Shikari, though as with the first song Axis Mundi have developed their sound to a point that first thoughts are always of the band itself when describing any of its distinct aspects.

The album continues to stir up hunger and passions with its might and established band sound as Science Junkie steps into view next. A favourite of seemingly everyone upon its release as a live track a while ago, the trio have understandably relinquished some of the unbridled urgency and rabidity which marked the original release with a greater adventure and melodic clarity on the album. The track still gallops like a stallion in heat, keys and guitars brewing up a techno maelstrom which is impossible to escape. As it sways, lurches, and climbs all over the senses you can almost see the invention of the song pulsating through its veins, its sonic blood rushing around the hypnotic hooks and seductive melodies which parade relentless across its ravenous body as glorious vocal harmonies between Shaun and Gary caress like a devious temptress. The track is a ridiculously thrilling encounter soon rivalled by the enthralling and confrontational rocker Shut Down The Rave. Feisty guitars and more sinewy toned vocals lead the track into another variation within the release, it in many ways a more straight forward course of electronic metal and rock but with plenty, like the acidic scythes of guitar and flowing evocative key sculpted hues, to steal the imagination all over again. With an antagonistic climax which smells of Rage Against The Machine at their best before a final bloom of seducing melodies, the song is a magnificent incitement.

As undeniable impressive as the album is already, the next stretch of songs secures its status as a classic protagonist. Springing from an informative sample, their use another pleasing additive to the album, The Astounding Fact unleashes almost ten minutes of heart racing, bone juddering invention but equally it involves elegant and sweetly melodic caresses between rabid outbreaks of predacious ravishment. Consistently evolving into and involving further anthemic strolls and almost Manic Street Preacher-esque like croons the ingenious provocative and unpredictable storm alone shows just how far the band has come in its songwriting, musical skills, and mischievous designs. It is just the start though as both What Do You Get? and Little Stories Of Discovery climb up to yet another plateau of persuasion. The first plays with that earlier carnival like premise of Movie In The Mind, though its intensive menacing onslaught of initial rhythms and guitar around discord blessed keys is a differing frightening prospect. Once the vocals enter to stir up air and lyrical dirt, a deranged fairground essence seeps into the riveting equation, wonderfully darkly tainted verses inspiring thoughts of Insane Clown Posse more than one or twice. Switching with a chorus cast in melodic rock, the song is a puppeteer of shadows and passions, the best track on the album though straight away challenged by its brilliant successor. It is a psyche /indie rocker which leaps and swaggers with the relish and craft of a Reuben and a Bloc Party aligned to the melodic craft of a Feeder, though despite those references the bewitching slice of invention is again uniquely and irrepressibly all Axis Mundi.

The album carries on enslaving thoughts and emotions though maybe not to the same heights such the brilliance of earlier songs but certainly the rich and welcomingly bruising rock endeavour of Only Genes Can Judge Me and the jagged reggae inspired canter of The Gospel According To Science steal their very fair share of the passions with their highly accomplished and skilfully coloured tales whilst the closing New Scientist brings one final undiluted festival of dancefloor igniting voracity. Within all the tracks the band again thrusts a middle finger to expectations with their enchanting harmonies and reserved melody fuelled breezes within diverse tempestuous stomps, and all constant instigators of feet and passions.

Sci-curious is an exceptional kaleidoscopic offering which takes Axis Mundi into a whole new realm of quality and instinctively invigorating adventure. You can only hope and suspect that the world will take intensive notice of the UK trio as they and the album dive into an insatiable rampage which maybe even scientific doubters will find no resistance for.

The self- released Sci-curious will be released on June 1^st

http://www.axismundionline.com

9/10

RingMaster 16/05/2014

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