The Top Twenty Noise/alternative releases which had The RingMaster Review lustful in 2014

One of the artists which has truly excited and impressed without reservation over the past couple of years has been UK band Jingo. The London based quartet has inspired critical acclaim and a hungry fan base through a series of diversely inventive and explosively creative singles. It has led to an impatient anticipation for the band’s debut album and now that it is here, it feels like we all short changed them with our hopes and expectations. The Art Of Loving is an exceptional encounter, a delicious collection of melodically fiery and emotionally intensive songs which have a revelry which seduces feet right through to the passions. Individually unique but uniting for a fluidly captivating adventure, the album brings some of their previously released singles together with striking new songs. Those older tracks though which fans already know well and love, have been revitalised in their mix as well as in their actual bodies to create nothing but fresh and scintillating exploits within the exhilarating album.

Jingo consists of guitarist/vocalist Jack Buckett, his American wife and vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist Katie, drummer Joseph Reeves, and bassist Chris Smith. Since its early days and shows across Brooklyn, New York and London, Jingo has gone from their first gig which saw them supporting Graham Coxon of Blur, to being compared to the likes of Fleetwood Mac and The Magic Numbers, and to gaining fevered attention and support from independent press and radio whilst becoming one of the most talked about bands with fans and again the underground media. Their nine singles marked the band firmly out as having the potency to break into the strongest spotlight of attention and recognition, now the year in a half making The Art Of Loving could and should be the doorway into that expansive scenery for Jingo.

With former member Sahil Batra adding his talent to some of the tracks too, the band instantly ignites ears and imagination with album opener Black Flowers. A heavy air and throaty bass coaxing engrosses ears straight away but it is tempered by the vocal seduction of Katie. It is a magnetically intriguing union of hungry shadows and vocal temptation which only gains further potency as post punk scythes of guitar add their voice to the compellingly brewing emprise of the song. Once hitting its sultry stride, the track is awash with evocative keys and a metallic resonance to riffs which adds mystique and intimidation to the encounter respectively. The song is a dramatically contagious and ingeniously crafted fusion of light and dark, merging the heavier seventies rock essences of Jess & the Ancient Ones in majestic flirtation with the melodic beauty of The Magic Numbers and the atmospheric beauty of Solar Halos, but ultimately something unique to Jingo.

The following Skypunch opens with an elegant caress of keys but also another imagination grabbing breath of dramatic breeding. It is fair to say there is a powerful drama to all of Jingo’s songs, all different but all building an intensity and climatic narrative musically and emotionally. The second track soon parades a cinematic landscape of sound and emotion, its thick yet warmly charming enterprise suitable for a narrative of global espionage or intimate emotional dilemma. Keys and drums entangle with strenuous ideation across the song whilst Katie roars with mesmeric beauty matched by the similarly vocal endeavour of Jack’s expressive guitar invention.

Both When You Want Me and Belong To You take the listener into imaginative journeys of tenacious and creative revelry. The first comes through a sonic almost sinister ambience to cup ears in an engaging vocal tempting amidst a

bordering on tempestuous climate which like the rhythmic enticement seems to grow and bulge with intent the deeper into the song the listener finds themselves. Looking like it is heading into a storm, the song instead twists back on itself to parade a glorious stomp of funk seeded melodies and boisterous rhythms courted by a psychedelic enticing of guitar and keys. It is an engrossing and impossibly infectious song almost matched by its successor. Belong To You opens with a bass lure which offers hints of The Pixies before joining a warm flame of chords and the even hotter vocals of Katie. With a masterful rhythmic dance from the sticks of Reeves creating a gripping spine, the song smoulders energetically with a sixties pop and psychedelic infectiousness but also a provocative aural melodrama to voice and the multi-flavoured textures erupting throughout the outstanding track.

That sixties feel with a just as strong fifties pop additive, brings the following title track to enthralling life too. Barely a minute long and simply the voice and harmonies of Katie accompanied by finger clicks, it is simply mesmeric and irresistible. Like Wanda Jackson meets Sarah Vaughan, the track is a small treat and soon making way for Home. Right away there is angst and drama, a word impossible not to use with every song, to the thick bass hues and short stabs of guitar which skirt the visually provocative vocals. The track is sensational, a seductive and mentally intrusive aural movie which sets body and emotions ablaze whilst coaxing thoughts to create their own personal adventures.

A gentler flight is brought by the brilliant Blue Wail. Exotic vocal expression and jagged guitar teasing wraps engrossingly around thoughts whilst bulging rhythms and bass sultriness adds to the Caribbean coloured canvas spawning the

Artwork by Katie Buckett

creative devilry emerging above it. It is a transfixing fascination of sound for ears and imagination soon emulated in its own distinctive manner by Before You Were Born. The song is an emotively enchanting ballad but one still fuelled by vivacity through its rhythms and invention which keenly engages the striking heart felt vocal presence of Katie. It is a delightful embrace, if not as potent on the passions as other songs on the album, which shares its intimacy and passionate depths with the magnificent Jaclyn. Written about a friend of Katie who killed herself, the song is simply creative vaudeville set in the walls of one of the most creatively inspired and melodically pungent songs you are likely to hear this year. Every second, note, and syllable is soaked in passion, anger and love entwined in a fire of invention and yes aurally poetic drama. There is also a sultry seduction to the song which weaves and swerves curvaceously before ears to entice and pull the senses into the heated grandeur and personal fever of the track. Brilliance hardly covers it.

The jazzy elegance of Same Without You is next and cored by a piano grace, proceeds to cast a melodic temptress of itself melodically and theatrically to stand hand in hand with the similarly seductive vocals. With broody basslines and individual fires of invention lining the sensational enticement, the song is a climate of invasively emotive hues, melancholic ambience, and lustful invention, much like next up IQ84. The track from its first moment is parading an irresistible web of choppy riffs, jangling chords, and mountainously heavy bass and rhythmic sculpting. Complete with seventies seeded keys, a touch of The Stranglers not for the first time hinting away in keys, and virulently suggestive and flaming atmospheres, it is another stunning pinnacle in the release.

The Art Of Loving is brought to a close by the increasingly captivating beauty of Don’t Call It Love, a resourceful and melodically shimmering ballad once again allowing Katie to show the depths of her voice before utilising it in a crescendo of creative courtliness enclosed in a tempest of united passion and inventive energy. It is a slow burner of a song which given time matches the depths and heights of the other songs on what is easily one of the albums of the year. Fans of the band will probably expect to hear that but even they will have their breath taken away by its magnificence.

The Art Of Loving is released on September 1st @ http://jingomusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-art-of-loving

http://jingomusic.com/

10/10

RingMaster 31/08/2014

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Dignan Porch – Observatory

Jun17

Dignan Porch 1

Returning with their third album and the first on Brighton independent label Faux Discx, UK band Dignan Porch reassert themselves as one of the more mesmeric and tantalising psychedelically wrapped indie pop incitements around. Observatory is a captivating collection of lo-fi presented, resourcefully sculpted songs which flirt and then simply run with the imagination. The release is an aural nest egg, an honest escape and comfort to fall back on in times of stress and just when you want good, heart bred music.

Starting out as a one man project for Joseph Walsh, Dignan Porch has evolved into a healthy complement of inventive and expressive musicians creating similarly potent music. The new album follows the well-received Tendrils of 2010 and Nothing Bad Will Ever Happen two years later, both released on the New York label Captured Tracks. Written and predominantly recorded in a cold and noisy flat above a used-carpet shop in South London in 2013, where Joe was living, Observatory is a seductive breeze of DIY invention and care. It has an intimacy which caresses the listener whilst providing the unpredictability and insight of life’s emotions, an often shadowed and dark sadness which entwines with the open radiance of the songs. Of the few tracks recorded differently to the almost jigsaw like piecing together of parts elsewhere, these were recorded as a full band in the moment with Henry Withers at Sound Savers studio. It all makes for a compelling and ultimately enchanting proposition but one with a raw and dirty edge which just as strikingly shapes the release into the triumph it is.

A rhythmic trap catches the ears first as opener Forever Unobscured enters the eye line, the percussive bait instantly gripping FAUX-031-600px attention and an already awakening appetite. It is soon joined by the slightly mischievous and again wholly magnetic keys of Hayley Akins, which in turn is swiftly courted by the moody tones of Ben Goodwin’s bass and the guitar maze of Joseph and his brother Sam Walsh. It is a mouthwatering mix to which the mellow yet sultry vocals lay seductively, whilst around it all a fiery temperament and energy brews to further inflame the imagination. It is an engrossing start which the brilliant Deep Deep Problem takes to another level. It is the perfect pop song, hooks and melodies courting sirenesque harmonies by Joseph and Hayley as they take thoughts and emotions by the hand and lead them into an infectious waltz. There is a rich sixties psychedelic pop essence to the breath-taking union of guitars and keys which is punctuated by the roaming beats of Luke Walsh, but also a feel of psyc. It is a gorgeous encounter which tempts and abrases perfectly.

The acoustically crafted Veil of Hze strokes ears next, the hollow wrapped vocals a haunting enticement in an emotive embrace, before the wonderful discord kissed No Lies toys with the senses through smouldering keys and deliciously jangly guitar coaxing. Like vortices of sonic wind and vocal sun, the song laps over the senses simultaneously igniting passions with quirky grooves and quaintly cast invention. It is a seductive beauty which sparks a new hunger in the appetite which was less effusive with its predecessor, and just as vibrantly Between the Trees brings a seventies garage pop croon to bear on ears and heart for similar effect. It is a short bounce of a song but one which in its brief presence has the listener tightly gripped and subservient.

The start of Wait & Wait & Wait is excellent; a warped cartoonish lure which turns out to sadly be a false start in the entrance of the song. It is a shame as it would have made an irresistible start to the track. Nevertheless the song without admittedly drawing the same strength of reactions still provides a highly satisfying and elegant friendship before the punk infused crawl of Harshed and the minimalistic call of I Plan to Come Back bring the passions back to the boil. The first of the two strolls with a sultry swagger and Birdland like causticity in its melodic shimmering whilst its successor is a lean bordering on anorexic sonic web of humid melodies and streamline drama encased in a melancholic mist. The song absorbs the imagination like a sponge, inspiring fresh adventure as it expands its celestial colours.

Through the likes of the more than decently attractive Dinner Tray and the beefy evocative of Warm Welcome to Hell, the album continues to firmly engage if not quite finding that incendiary spark of before, though that fuse is soon lit again by the outstanding Got to Fly. Like in the opening song, a rhythmic enticement brings initial slavery before guitars paint thoughts with sonic hues as vocals push forward the developing addictive canvas of the song for a greater feisty bewitchment. It is a tremendous provocation before the final mellow sunset of Swing By, a soothing encounter enriched with varied emotive shades and acidic melodic veining. The song makes a fine end to Observatory, an excellent immersive closing which lingers and wraps the listener impressively.

Dignan Porch has crafted the perfect companion for sullen moments in heat bred summer nights with Observatory, an enticing vehicle through which explorations of evocative realms and personal corners bring a wealthy dose of pleasure.

Observatory is available now on 12” vinyl LP and digital download @ http://fauxdiscx.bandcamp.com/album/observatory

https://www.facebook.com/dignanporch

8/10

RingMaster 17/06/2014

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Allusondrugs – Nervous

May21

Allusondrugs Promo 1

UK alternative rock band Allusondrugs continue their very impressive and striking emergence, already signposted by two previous riveting singles, with a third in the tasty shape of the tantalising and bewitching Nervous. Providing another side and hue to their adventure and sound, the new single is a fire which smoulders just as potently as it blazes with stirring sonic flames. It also confirms that this is a band on the verge of potentially major horizons given the right opportunities and hearts to enthral.

Formed in 2012 and hailing from Castleford in West Yorkshire, the quintet has taken little time in capturing the passions locally and further afield with previous singles Plasters and the following MyCat/Fruit, as well as their highly thought of energetic live presence. The underground and main media has not been slow in embracing Allusondrugs either, a hug which you know will only get tighter as Nervous works its way around defences. Released like its predecessors on Clue Records, the band’s third single adds another magnetic piece to the jigsaw that is Allusondrugs’ sound. Every release has been distinctly different but openly related and you sense still only offers an incomplete picture of the band’s instinctive invention and aural canvas.

Nervous opens with jabbing beats to which a sonic swarm of melodic enticing drapes its temptation, the guitars weaving an acidic NERVOUS Front Cover coaxing which soars across the emerging scenery of the song. With dark bass shadows adding to the premise, it is a gripping entrance which just as swiftly as it seduces is transformed into a minimalistic sultry landscape which the still potent rhythms and lingering tendrils of melodies enrich as glorious vocals and harmonies expressively colour the new climate. The track at this point is like a mix of The Walker Brothers and The Pixies offering a sixties croon aligned to a sirenesque surf and psyche rock fusion. It is irresistibly mesmeric which the subsequent grunge bred eruptions only accentuates as they roar with the creative endeavour the band showed they were so efficient at in the last single. Impossibly infectious and healthily addictive, the song is a transfixing treat easily matching the might of its predecessors.

The lead song is accompanied by the similarly impressive and thrilling Handicapped, a wicked lure of noise rock which worms its way under the skin and into the heart within its opening seconds. A deviously contagious groove nags and squirms venomously around the senses first before grouchy beats join its toxic brilliance. It is not long before the heavy throated bass and additional caustic scrub of guitar add to the virulent erosion which is washed by again strikingly melodic and refreshing vocals with courting harmonies. There is a sense of UK band Jingo and US rockers Solar Halos to the evolving narrative of the song, strong spices in something which is unique and incredibly compelling, especially with its vein of Eastern mystique which whispers provocatively from within the fiery encounter.

Completed with an acoustic demo version of Nervous, the single is another simply sensational incitement from Allusondrugs, a band where only bad decisions and poor luck will stop them becoming one of the leading enticements of British rock.

Nervous is available digitally and as a limited edition CD run of 300 via Clue Records now!

https://www.facebook.com/Allusondrugs

UK Tour Dates:

30th May – Castleford – Black Bull (Headline Show)

31st May – Hertfordshire – Club 85 – Hitchin (w/ Fizzy Blood)

01st June – Oxford – Wheatsheaf (w/ Fizzy Blood)

04th June – Birmingham – Actress & Bishop (w/ Fizzy Blood)

05th June – Hereford – Herdsman (w/ Fizzy Blood)

06th June – Corby – Zombie Hut (w/ Fizzy Blood)

07th June = Lounge 41, Workington

10/10

RingMaster 21/05/2014

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Scorching shadows: an interview with Nora Rogers of Solar Halos

Jan20

Nora Rogers

Barely two to three weeks in and one of the year’s most exciting and we suggest prominent albums has already been unveiled in the masterful temptation that is the Solar Halos self-titled debut. A beautifully crafted evocative expanse of heavy unrelenting rock created through a tantalising mesmeric core brew of stoner and psychedelic rock the release is a stunning and magnetic introduction to the North Carolina band. Eager to find out more about Solar Halos we had the pleasure of talking with guitarist/vocalist Nora Rogers where we discussed the origins of the band and its member’s histories, lyrical inspirations, the influence of their home town and much more…

Hi Nora and thank you for sparing time to talk with us.

Tell us about the beginnings of Solar Halos to start things off and also how you all met originally.

The three of us all have known each other for years just from living and playing in a small music-oriented town. Our bands had played shows and toured together so we were already both friends and fans. John and I first played together in Jenks Miller’s project, Horseback in 2010. We really enjoyed playing with each other so a year later John and I started another project. We jammed for a few months putting some ideas together but decided that we wanted to add bass before things got too set in stone. We immediately thought of Eddie and were spot on; it felt really natural and clicked right from the first practice at the end of 2011.

Did you have a specific intent in forming the band?

Because we were aware of each other’s bands we wanted to do something collaborative with loose parameters. No one had a specific intent for the project so it came about casually. We all wanted to play heavy music with contrasts of light and dark, but that was really the only parameter that we started with.

I always wonder with bands that form from already experienced musicians coming together for the first time if there is a period of discussion and thought sharing about the project or if that comes after the first tempest of sound making; how was it with you guys with the band?

Our sound evolved very naturally just through jamming and finding how our individual strengths can be played for maximum effect. I think we have a very collaborative band model where we see a journey for a song and trust each other to choose our own path with the greater good of the song in mind. We all know what the others are capable of and know our taste is similar, so our discussions are mostly about arrangement and dynamics.

photo by Justin Cook

Our previous work in those bands was treated as more or less a reference point. We all defaulted to bringing in our loud gear, but we also found ourselves focusing on different aspects that we weren’t in those bands.

Have you found people making assumptions about what your sound was like before hearing it because of your times in Horseback etc.?

I haven’t found that people make assumptions based on our past bands but they do remark on similarities.

How does working with new people impact your thoughts and ideas at first? With Solar Halos was it an instant spark which right away bred to strong ideas and seeds for songs or a more slow burning process?

There was definitely an instant spark, but we have learned in our song writing that even a strong idea can be a slow burning process to follow through to completion.

Listening to your stunning self-titled debut album there is a heavier breath to all aspects, the sound, textures etc. then maybe expected from your success in those other bands, a deliberate move?

Thank you, I think with heaviness as our only parameter this all came quite naturally; it wasn’t a deliberate contrast to our other works.

Also the album seems to have an almost evolving before the ears creative landscape which suggests the songs in many ways sculpted their drove their own path as they came to realisation. Give us an insight to how things developed in that respect and about the writing process in general.

Yes, that is the intention and how they were written. Songs usually start with a riff. We record a bunch of permutations of it and the parts that instinctually follow over several weeks and pick out what works well. Once we have a good outline I’ll figure out the vocals and we might tweak the song some more. It’s pretty time intensive but seems to produce interesting results.

We always write the music first then I go back and listen for the vocal melodies and lyrical imagery that the song provokes. I think the movement and structures of our songs on this album coincide with how my mind thinks spatially and geographically. The space each of us inhabits musically creates the landscape and our arrangement of the parts and the vocals create a path through the song.

The album is receiving impressed responses, and rightly so in our minds; has it surprised you the strength of the reaction to it even though I am sure you were fully confident of its potency?

It’s always great to see a positive response, you never really know what to expect when you put out a first record. I find it really satisfying to know that you have moved someone emotionally or creatively.

artwork We called the album one of the first great adventures of 2014 and it does feel like an intensive and invigorating adventure. It also hints that this adventure was just as thrilling to create and at times a stepping into the unknown for you guys, was that how it felt?

Wow, thank you. It was a really fun album to create and we were stepping into the unknown without guidelines. As for adventure, there were definitely no mythical beasts to outrun or any wizards to fights, so I guess it was quite ordinary in that respect.

Is there any prime inspiration to the narrative and emotional feel of the songs and album?

All of the lyrical inspiration came from images of Earth and landscapes that the music evokes. The narration is moving through those landscapes. Sometimes the focus is on a small scale like ice dripping off leaves “leaves like daggers breathe inside” in “Frost” or on a grand scale like global electromagnetic waves excited by lightning in “Resonance.”

How much of the album is personal to the extent of revealing shadows and secrets, even if merely hinting, to the world?

When I was in The Curtains of Night I wrote a lot of personal lyrics under the cloak of myth, but now I try to paint with broader strokes. I am always thinking of something very specific, but not necessarily from my personal life. I want the lyrics to be evocative visually but vague and open-ended enough to be read in different ways.

Musically the songs on the album have an intensity and at times an almost guttural aggression to them whilst your vocals temper and almost tease that heaviness with mesmeric harmonies and melodic invention. Was there a concerted effort in forging the impressive union as shown on the release or again has it been a naturally bred success?

Both, the contrast comes quite naturally but we are also conscious of the play of light and dark that helps to give some depth and complexity to the music.

The album is released via Devouter Records. What was right about the UK label for you and were they one of those I believe you sent demos to of tracks recorded in a metal shop?

Yes, our friend, Scott Endres of the band MAKE sent a link of our demos to Phil Rhodes at Devouter who had released their awesome album, Trephine. Scott had great things to say about working with Phil and we were impressed by Devouter’s roster of bands.

Your home state North Carolina is a constant hotbed of scintillating music and adventure driven bands, in all flavours. What is it like as an emerging and established band there and how has the place and your home town Chapel Hill impacted on or inspired on your creative process if at all?

The pace here is pretty laid back and cost of living relatively low so we can afford to be more adventurous. Bands can rent cheap practice spaces or play at someone’s house. Chapel Hill is a college town so lots of musicians own or work at bars which also put on shows. The area is really supportive of musicians, so it has been a hub to lots of creative talent. Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham have a range of venues to play at and great music festivals like Hopscotch which showcase local and international talent. There is an energy here that is pretty conducive to being a musician.

Is there a unity, comradeship amongst bands and the scene itself in NC or is it like other places a more self-centred environment?

photo by Jordan Haywood

There is a lot of overlap between band members and a continually growing number of bands of all genres. We do tend to play shows locally with heavier bands in the area like MAKE, Mourning Cloak, Black Skies, and Bitter Resolve, but I think people are supportive across the board.

What comes next for Solar Halos on the back of the album and ahead?

We recorded a long two part song for a split 10” with another NC band, Irata that should be out in the next few months. Meanwhile we are writing material for another album and hope to do a bit of travelling later in the year.

Is the UK/Europe destined to see you live this year?

We would love to come over this year but nothing is booked right now.

Once again Nora many thanks for chatting with us, any last thought you would like to send the readers off pondering?

Do an image search for “Brocken spectre,” you won’t be disappointed!

www.solarhalos.com

Read the review of Solar Halos debut album @ https://ringmasterreviewintroduces.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/solar-halos-self-titled/

Pete RingMaster

The RingMaster Review 20/01/2014

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Solar Halos – Self Titled

Jan1

Solar Halos 3 HiResSmall

Setting the new musical year off to a stunning and potent start, US rockers Solar Halos unleash their debut album, a release conjuring a tantalising mesmeric brew of stoner and psychedelic rock with further explorations which simply seduces the imagination and passions into hungry life. Out 20^th January via Devouter Records, the self-titled album is a masterful temptation and beautifully crafted evocative expanse of heavy unrelenting rock leading the listener into one of the first great adventures of 2014.

Hailing from Chapel Hill, North Carolina the trio certainly comes with a rich pedigree to its line-up. Consisting of guitarist/vocalist Nora Rogers, formerly of Horseback and Curtains of Night, Caltrop and Horseback drummer John Crouch, and Fin Fang Foom bassist Eddie Sanchez, Solar Halos feed expectations bred from its line-up and then shows them another creative level through imagination and sonic invention. Soaked in a doom like weight yet finding a radiant and transfixing resourcefulness generally absent in the genre through varied textures and sounds, the band’s first album is an enthralling and intensive examination of and feast for senses and emotions. A travelogue of heated and dusty climes brought through an ever shifting provocative aural landscape.

The album opens with The Vast White Plains and immediately hits the appetite with a delicious grizzly bass sound within ear Artwork entwining sonic guitar lines, all caged by the hypnotic rhythmic sculpting of Crouch. Within its first seconds the song has attention rigidly glued to its magnetic lure, a hold which is only cemented further once the distinctive and absorbing vocals of Rogers begin the lyrical narrative. The combination is unstoppable as the track winds the passions around its rhythmic fingers, its sonic persuasion drifting into continual enterprise and bordering exhaustive intensity. With additional vocals from Sanchez as effective and pleasing as those of Rogers to further flavour the rich lure of the song, it is a mighty and riveting start.

The following Tunnels takes a more reserved approach as its entrance but one with melodic flames and a tempered rhythmic gait which only engages thoughts as eagerly as its predecessor. A crawling journey through seemingly doom seeded psychedelic waters, the track heavily leans on the ear yet with the warm life filled vocals and incendiary melodies cast by the guitar it feels like a plunge through dark emotional depths lit by a beacon of hope and warmth. As with the first track every aspect of the song coaxes out rapturous responses, its twisting and inventive enterprise reinforcing the lure and lingering beauty of the wonderfully intrusive feel of adventure. There is a definite Horseback tone to the music as well as elements of Kyuss and at times Jess and the Ancient Ones but as the second song finishes there is no denying that Solar Halos crafts a sound which is uniquely theirs.

Both the soaring rigorous flight of Migration and the atmospheric scenery of Frost continue the impressive presence of the album, the second especially with a carnivorous tone to the bass and another mouthwatering rhythmic taunting by Crouch igniting another wash of emotional rabidity within for its offering. Their triumphs are soon followed by the chilled touch of Wilderness, a song which builds mountainous sonic ranges and heavyweight rhythmic caverns to explore and spark the imagination within. The most doom washed track on the release but again one which teases and invites bright burning flames from within its dark shadows, it builds a thick tide of scuzz filled provocation and melodic heat provoking thoughts and emotions to delve only deeper with each excursion through its fascination.

Resonance brings the album to a close, the track eight minutes of sonic incitement and rhythmic enslaving. It is a glorious slowly invasive triumph to complete a breath-taking release. Everything from the great vocal blend of Rogers and Sanchez, the guitar’s senses encircling spirals of expressive melodic suasion, and the almost goading and certainly anthemic rhythmic bait of the bass and Crouch’s outstanding drum craft, enslaves ears and imagination. Like the album as a whole, the track just gets better and impresses more with each course through its striking landscape and steals top honours on the release though it is constantly challenged by the other tracks.

Solar Halos instantly stand aside the likes of Horseback and Royal Thunder through their debut and it is not hard to suspect that the threesome will be forging major heights in the future. 2014 could not be off to a better start.

www.solarhalos.com

10/10

RingMaster 01/01/2014

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