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.
Upcoming Cove UK tour dates:
April: 15th – Bournemouth – Anvil | 16th – Guildford – Boileroom | 17th – Nottingham – Red Rooms | 18th – Manchester – Satans Hollow | 19th – Huddersfield – Parish | 20th – Glasgow – Garage Attic | 21st – Edinburgh – Opium | 22nd – Sheffield – Corporation | 24th – Birmingham – Flapper | 25th – Oxford – Cellar | 26th – Tunbridge Wells – Forum Basement | 27th – Bristol – Mothers Ruin | 28th – Bridgend – Hobos | 30th – London – Thousand Island
https://www.wearecove.com/ https://www.facebook.com/WeAreCove/ https://twitter.com/WEARECOVE
Pete RingMaster 27/03/2018
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
The great start continues through Honestly, it too gathering its attributes in its initial breath before gripping ears with its subsequent enterprise. Ebbing and flowing in its aggression, perpetually captivating in its resourceful dynamics and imagination, the song creates a tapestry of melodic intrigue, emotive suggestion, and tempestuous energy which just beguiles the imagination. References to the likes of letlive, Papa Roach, Deftones, and While She Sleeps have been offered before the Counterpoint sound and easy to understand why with the EP’s opening pair of encounters.
The following Realizationship is similarly woven if even more irritable and too a web of seduction and sonic violence which never stops twisting and turning within its storm. The song lacks the final striking essences of its predecessor yet with teasing grooves and fury loaded flames of melody it masterfully hits the spot and an imagination already submissive to the inventively evolving landscapes the band shares within songs.
The second song harries ears with an initial scrub of riffs, drums throbbing upon impact to match the resonating tone of Gert-Jan Vandervoort’s bass. If the first song it was a lingering threat, in its successor a predatory declaration is made yet with a catchy grooving as enticing as anything conjured by voice and guitar elsewhere. Harmonic backing to the throat scraping attack of Monsieurs is a great contrast to the antagonistic charge driving the song as too the citric melodic enterprise aligning with the sonic trespass abrasing the senses.
The biggest spotlight is now sure to be tempted with the release of ///, from its claw slashed title to its ursine assault of sound, the album is an inescapable beast of character, aggression, and invention mauling the listener from its first breath with opener Blackpool. Its first gasp brings a senses eroding surge of guitar and Maarten Albrechts’ furious vocals, a colossal onslaught weighted further by the lethal swings of drummer Serch Carriere and the grievous tone of Dries Verhaert’s bass. As the corrosive tide continues scything riffs and squalling grooves escape the already impressing exploits of guitarist Leander Tsjakalov, his creative weave in turn sparking greater variety in the vocal roar of Albrechts and band. Like a blend of Meshuggah, Slipknot, and Society 1, the song bullies and seduces, opening up more unpredictable twists and compelling exploits with every passing wave of imagination.
moment of inescapable persuasion like a warm oasis at the eye of an increasingly psychotic storm. With every element combined, it is a fearsome bewitchment with the animalistic growl of bass irresistible, delicious bait continuing as 7 strolls into view carrying a maze of meandering anxious grooves and sonic psychosis. Becoming more brutal and intense with each passing moment, it equally breeds a captivation of harmonic and melodic seduction, the union of extremes as catchy as it is wanton. The song is a helter-skelter of invention and craft, fiercely glorious leaving exhausted ears in bliss and easy prey for the slow menacing prowl of instrumental Klank before Raw has them consumed in another eddy of feverish craft and unbridled discord abound with swirling contrasts and volatile textures all woven into one mouth-watering dispute.
Its mix of flavours is another potent aspect to the song and matched within the following Feeding Wolves. Its first touch is a melodic gentleness though soon joined by the low key but open grumble of Loet Brinkmans’ bass and the meaty jab and roll of Tom Van Ekerschot’s beats. As Pisarahu growls, the track erupts into another hellacious yet inviting tempest speared by a predacious swing and spicy grooves. As in the first song, guitarists JD Liefting and Pim Wesselink reveal themselves as comfortable seducing ears with warm melodies as they are ravaging them with bracing and abrasive hostility, their imagination and craft adding to the inventive unpredictability of the song and indeed album.
Barely a breath is taken between the outstanding encounter and the equally impressive Divide, a twitch of ears and you miss the moment but not the fresh character of craft and intent quickly confronting ears. The track, even with its own unchained ferociousness and emotion, is more is a predator than its predecessor, sizing up and lunging at the jugular time and time again. Again steely grooves enslave and incite body and appetite, Antony Costello and Jack Day creating a senses eroding web of enterprise and infection while the diversity of spiteful vocals more than fully satisfy.