Though The Amsterdam Red Light District seized major plaudits as they boldly established themselves within the punk/hardcore/rock scene with second album Gone For a While in 2014, the release still missed stirring up the kind of fervour in us that others were finding the certainly highly enjoyable encounter. It seems that we were just waiting for a particular undefined spark which has now undoubtedly caught within the France based band’s new fury, Sapere Aude. THARD’s third album is a beast of a roar, as ferociously infectious as it is instinctively irritable and emotionally tempestuous and for us by far the best thing the band has unleashed.
With inspirations found in the likes of Refused, The Bronx, The Ghost of a Thousand, and The Bled, Europe has been the broad sounding board for the 2005 founded band’s sound over the past few years, THARD sharing stages with the likes of Refused, Anti-Flag, Thrice, 36 Crazyfists, Comeback Kid, and Slayer alongside their own successful shows and tours. This month sees the band off on their travels again with Sapere Aude lock and loaded in their arsenal.
It opens up with Nobody Moves Like You and a spiral of acidic grooves and heavy handed rhythms which lure ears and attention like a magnet. Swiftly it settles into a tempestuous stroll as catchy as it is belligerent, Elio Sxone’s vocals an alluring temper in its midst backed by those increasingly captivating grooves cast by guitarist Maxxx Comby. A blend of hardcore and metal, the track has a natural swing which alone infested the appetite with the dark tones of Greg Clert’s bass adding to the instinctive temptation. Vocally Sxone brings adventure and diversity to match the raw and skilfully woven sounds around him in one glorious inventive brute of an introduction.
The following The Best Is Yet To Come is just as quickly and intrusively gripping. Featuring Cancer Bats front man Liam Cormier, the track simultaneously grumbles and seduces in voice and sound, the rhythmic trespass of drummer Julien Chanel driving its intent and forceful urgency as the guitar and melodic aspect of the vocals bring a ferocity tempering enterprise. As its predecessor, it demands and commands willing attention with adventure and imagination.
Two songs in and already the album has whipped up personal passions missed by previous offerings and only ups the ante with the fiery punk ‘n’ roll of Need. Again vocals and music create a cauldron of contrasts and ferocity with balance and adventure, the song having something of Every Time I Die meets The Ghost of a Thousand to it as it too inflamed the senses and appetite before Wild Life sparked its own blaze of praise and ardour with its hellacious creative clamour. Blending various aspects of ferocious intrusion and melodic captivation to its punk metal, vocal harmonics adding to the drama, the track simply whipped up greedy attention.
Carry On is an infection of temptation, tenacious hooks and riffs colluding with the song’s emotional irritancy and rousing breath; all bound in an enterprise as persistently catchy as it is rapacious. It all comes though with an ebb and flow which only increases its fascination and imagination while Over The Fence in turn uncages a sonic squall and a senses battering rhythmic dance which holds similarities to its predecessor before unveiling its own quest of creative discontent.
The turbulent spirals of Waiting For The Day needs little time to incite intrigue and imagination next, its opening web subsequently draped in vocal and sonic dispute again as magnetic as it is corrosive in a psyche infecting mix which nags and harries as it bruises and excites. That raw incursion is only intensified in The Whole City Burns, its melodic metal aligning with feral punk in an invigoratingly abrasive holler loaded with spiky riffs, barbed hooks, and melodic fire.
The album concludes with firstly Evil Stakeholders, a slab of crotchety yet melodically bewitching raging which maybe did not quite inflame as others before it but only reinforced the impressive character and force of Sapere Aude. Its title track is the final offering, an outro of intimation and samples reflecting the portentous state of the world with bursts of rhythmic incitement. Maybe better served as an intro to the album in some ways, it is a fascinating last breath to one striking release.
From first note to last Sapere Aude truly stirred our fullest passions, that anticipation for bigger bolder things ahead sparked by its predecessor more than realised in a release sure to feature as one of the year’s greatest moments.
Sapere Aude is out now via Red Light Records.
https://www.tarldtheband.com/ https://www.facebook.com/tarldtheband https://twitter.com/tarld
Pete RingMaster 08/03/2018
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
Breathe starts things off, the song instantly dousing ears in a tide of melody infused riffs as Freeth’s distinctive voice provides an expressive growl to already appetising proceedings. Dropping into mellower moments with keen hooks the track continues to grab attention, the calm leading to rousing crescendos which seem to become more inflamed with every outburst. With rhythms commanding and backing vocals eager, there is little escape from the song’s temptation, its more tempestuous air adding greater bait to devour before Atlas strolls through calmer waters. It is a restrained climate though still holding a volatile air in its surroundings, shadows which at times ignite with punkish tenacity and energy around equally controlled vocals and melodic persuasion.
The following Mmm Cheque Please! makes a just as striking entrance, another single strain of guitar bait making the first lure, rampant beats and Luke’s inviting vocals the next before it all blooms into another infectious canter. Daryl’s beats resonate as they land and Tom’s basslines grumble as much as they seduce while Mary and Luke share a tapestry of hooks and melodic endeavour which only leads to a greater appetite for song and release. Admittedly the track lacks the final spark which ignites its predecessor but leaves pleasure bubbling eagerly as does Dirty Weekend with its more restrained but wholly magnetic presence. Repeating a prowess which confirms Hello Bear masterful at creating big choruses and ripe hooks which simply infest the psyche, the song lays lustfully upon the senses.
It opens up with It’s Morphine Time, a song which descends on the senses like a tempestuous challenge from its first breath, but a threat just as quickly seducing ears and appetite as riffs and rhythms launch their hungry persuasion. In no times wiry grooves are entangling song and listener while anthemic vocal roars across the band find a great Beastie Boys feel to them. As it proceeds, the scent of bands such as Rage Against The Machine and Refused also colour the encounter, with frontman Simon Roach taking vocal charge as the barbarous rhythms of bassist Sam Leworthy and drummer Mat Capper badger and incite. It is a virulent infectious affair with the enterprise and fiery grooves of guitarists Ian Chadderton and Josh Mortazavi arousing, aiding and shaping the songs twists and turns as its metal/heavy rock antagonism and inescapable catchiness fuels pleasure, the song alone surely ensuring the EP’s certain success.
All the same it is a powerful and dramatic start to Vessels continued by the Sikth meets Incubus personality of Alarm. Once again, the guitars dance with invention and craft as rhythms crowd the senses with their hungry shadows, all colluding to burn fiercely around the equally inflamed and rousing tones of Forster. The track enjoyably blisters on the ear before seamlessly evolving into the rawer antipathy of Pockets. Sonic tendrils and band shouts bring fresh drama to the album whilst the bass of Pipe borders on predatory as it robustly swings through the web of unpredictable and intoxication grooves and scything hooks. There is something extra about the track, if indefinable, which its predecessors lacked, an essence which and hints at the adventure waiting to escape the album further on.
Produced by the band and Marta Salogni at Strongroom Studios, London, Some Thing embraces ears with fiery directness straight away through Slug. The guitars of Ren Aldridge and Joe York dance as they sizzle on the senses whilst the jabbing pokes of drummer Zock reveal a swing and relish which only sparks stronger involvement in the swiftly contagious and dramatic encounter. The darker prowling tone of Liepa Kuraite’s bass adds weight to the thick lure of the song too, a tempting enhanced further by the potent vocals and expression of Aldridge backed as potently by York and Kuraite.
Produced by Marcus Forsgren, The White Sea stirs into rich life with I Wear The Skies, the opener coaxing with one, two, subsequently three and four layers of rich enticement once choppy riffs lure more spikily nagging hooks, keenly jabbing beats, and finally a groove thick bass tempting, it all uniting in an explosion of noise and impassioned vocal fire. Early hooks continue to lay down their addictiveness as the song grows, expanding their bait throughout as the short but glorious track boils to an anthemically ferocious close.