We Took an Epic Journey for Twin Atlantic and Lonely The Brave

Last Thursday another Louder Now reporter and I grabbed some dinner and put the world to rights over cocktails (she read the sign outside said “bitch, its happy hour, get in the restaurant” and ran inside in all her Irish glory.)

We analysed every section of crappiness we could and moaned about how nothing we had planned was happening quite the way we wanted it to.

As most people do when suffering from any kind of life-crisis (we’ve dubbed ours a pre-life crisis) we decided that something drastic would have to happen to get rid of the general crappiness.

36 hours later we were in a Volkswagen Up! driving from South West London to Glasgow. Yeah. My grandmother tells me that I’m brave.

I know that this all sounds slightly senseless or, failing that, like the beginning of some sort of Thelma and Louise re-hash but it all becomes a lot more reasonable when I point out that we were off to see Twin Atlantic rip up their home town alongside Lonely the Brave.

THINGS I LEARNT FROM OUR ROADTRIP TO GLASGOW NO.1: Twin Atlantic and Lonely The Brave have made the best possible road trip music.

It was a 400 mile trip to Glasgow which took us about 8 hours (we stopped a billion times, all of which were my fault) so we listened to their albums, in each one’s entirety more than once. If you’re ever looking to learn the words to a song, play it on loop on a road trip. But the problem with epic albums is that you can’t help but think to yourself: “It just can’t be this good live.”

Red light. I promise I will get to the show, just bear with me.

Green light. Have you ever sat in a car and stared out the window, with the perfect song playing on the radio, and imagined yourself as the lead in some movie which involves an epic journey of discovery or the like? Lonely The Brave’s The Day’s War, which will be re-released on June 8^th, was 14 spectacular variations of that perfect song. It’s just the right amount of beautiful and moody. Hands-up time, I thought the term “Doom-Pop” was ridiculous when I saw it on Lonely The Brave’s Facebook, but that is accurately  and specifically what it is.

At this junction I should probably mention that I’m pretty infamous for suffering from chronic travel sickness. Ask my mother and she will tell you, in graphic detail, about the time we boarded a plane and was told on more than one occasion that we were SUPER lucky because the plane was brand spanking new. Yeah. I christened the hell out of that plane.

I know, I’m pretty much the idiot with hayfever who becomes a florist, but nevertheless there I was on an 800 mile round trip in a car that should probably never have been forced to do it, and I was freaking loving life. It’s incredibly difficult to even remember that you feel significantly poorly when you’re listening to Twin Atlantic’s Hold On from their 2014 album Great Divide.

THINGS I LEARNT FROM OUR ROADTRIP TO GLASGOW NO.2: The song The Ghost of Eddie from Twin Atlantic’s first album, Free, makes you feel all sorts of bad-ass.

You remember the crappiness I mentioned? I’m pretty sure we had all but forgotten it by the time we spotted the mountains in Cumbria. (I’ve looked them up and I know that their technically hills but from where I was sitting those were mountains dammit.)   

Anyway, half a bag-for-life of snacks, a thousand re-plays of Heart and Soul, and 8 phone calls from my mother later (no exaggeration), and we arrived in Glasgow.

THINGS I LEARNT FROM OUR ROADTRIP TO GLASGOW NO.3: There’s a reason people rave about Scottish meat.  

We checked into our hotel, did our hair and make-up (we were owed the girly time), sent a dozen e-mails and headed into Glasgow to explore. We popped into a Bar & Kitchen called Neighbourhood where I had the best burger I have ever had and then laughed because I forgot where I was. Of course the burgers were amazing.

Only marginally recovered from the journey we took the short walk to The SSE Hydro Arena which, by the way, is stunning and an incredible venue which gives Wembley and The O2 a run for their money. 

Amber light: we’ve now arrived at the show, see, I told you we would get there eventually.

First up were the Cambridge doom-pop-rockers. Lonely The Brave took all of my worries about not being as fantastic live and obliterated them in style. Their set was magically moody and really intriguing. These guys have had a pretty eventful year themselves clocking up over 10,000 miles over seven and a half weeks for their UK and Euro tour, being nominated for Best Video at the Kerrang! Awards and preparing to re-release their album, The Day’s War, as I mentioned before.

Track number two on that album, Trick of the Light, is particularly gorgeous and this will not be the last time an arena hosts it.

We were lucky enough to pose a few stupid questions to Lonely The Brave and you can see what ridiculousness ensued here. 

THINGS I LEARNT FROM OUR ROADTRIP TO GLASGOW NO.4: Chatting to one band during the show means missing another band’s set we’re really sorry Eliza and The Bear!

Twin Atlantic pulled off something remarkable without even stepping foot on the stage. Before their grand entrance the crowd was treated to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, in its full glory, and the arena was more than happy to play along blaring out the words as if there were a band up there.

Then the main attraction burst on to the stage in an explosion of streamers.

THINGS I LEARNT FROM OUR ROADTRIP TO GLASGOW NO.5: Twin Atlantic are HUGE fans of streamers and confetti and balloons and basically anything it is okay to throw at an audience.

THINGS I LEARNT FROM OUR ROADTRIP TO GLASGOW NO.6: Twin Atlantic fans are HUGE supporters of having stuff thrown at them.  

As they launched into 2011’s Make A Beast of Myself (which may well be the best opener of all time) it was obvious how much this show, and the whole tour, meant to Twin Atlantic. Even people in the very top tier of this 13,000 capacity arena could feel it (like us).

“We might have taken the long way round” admits front man Sam McTrusty, and yeah, he’s probably right (but then so did we). In any event they ended up right where they were supposed to be, headlining the best venues at home and across the country.

What makes this band so special is the broad spectrum they range across. They can fire out trashy rock songs like Make A Beast of Myself and Free but stretch out towards power-pop-anthems like Hold On and Heart & Soul. They can even deliver spotlessly beautiful heart warmers like Oceans and Crash Land. They do all of it quite brilliantly. 

Take a look at the extensive list of bands that Twin Atlantic have supported (sometimes being handpicked by the headliners themselves) and it becomes pretty clear how they do it. My Chemical Romance, Blink-182, Limp Bizkit. Twin Atlantic are influenced by an array of legendary artists stretching from one end of the rock world to the other and that’s really paid off for them. 

It was one of those gigs where you would have been more than happy for the headliners to carry on into the morning. I would have listened to Twin Atlantic play every song they have ever written and I was a little bit gutted when they exited the stage.

We sort of crawled back to the hotel and then collapsed there in a pile of exhaustion. Most people would probably tell you that it’s a little bit stupid to drive 400 miles for a gig. Anything could have happened to us. The car could have broken down (and to all extents and purposes it probably should have done), we could have ended up in a horror hotel and wish that we were back in London, we could have got lost in Glasgow never to return with only a life of kilt wearing ahead of us.

THE ULTIMATE THING I LEARNT FROM OUR ROADTRIP TO GLASGOW: It’s a risk worth taking, to have a life worth living (Twin Atlantic, Hold On, ‘Free’ 2011).   

 

  

Lonely The Brave - Drum kit crashes, being ginger and Thomas the Tank Engine

Last weekend we hauled ourselves to Glasgow, Scotland, to see Lonely the Brave support Twin Atlantic at The SSE Hydro Arena. The gig was spectacular as was our epic journey to get there but you can read about that here.

We got Lonely The Brave to answer some stupid questions for us though! Here’s the ridiculousness that ensued.

Tell us the best joke you have ever heard:

Mark: I can’t, it’s offensive!

Ross: Just do it!

Mark: No I really can’t.

Andrew: Do a child friendly one.

Mark: I can’t that’s the problem.

Andrew: Okay well I’ve got one. Why did the baker have smelly hands?

Mark & Ross: Because he kneaded a poo!

Andrew: Yep. Pretty bad but still the best joke I know.

Is there anything you know this week that you didn’t know last week?:

Mark: That our countries fucked. Well I knew it was fucked before that but it’s even more fucked now. We’re not fans of the Tories.

Andrew: And everyone voted for them for some reason.

Mark: Apart from in the happy country we’re in, which is great!

Andrew: Oops, we got a bit political for a second there.

On a scale of 1 to 10 how weird are you? Explain:  

Mark: Well, Wheat Crunchies have to remain well hidden.

Andrew: Wheat Crunchies are fucking amazing.

Ross: I’d say we were at a level eight.

Andrew: Yeah, well I do have a bit of an OCD thing. This will sound really strange. I have to have my TV on certain volumes. Not necessarily even or odd numbers or anything but only a small selection of volumes are acceptable.

Mark: I have a similar one with letters where the angles in letters have to add up to a certain number. So the letter T is like number two so it has to have two strokes in it. 

Andrew: I probably shouldn’t admit this but I actually have a lifelong fear of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Mark: He really does.

Andrew: It’s actually the music. As soon as I hear that music I shit myself. It’s probably because of some deep rooted suppressed memory. Please don’t mention it again.

When you look in the mirror just after waking up, what thought goes through your head?:

Mark: FUCK I’M GINGER AGAIN! OH GOD!

Andrew: Usually it’s why am I so fat? Followed by, oh that’s right, I’ve eaten kebabs for the last 25 nights on tour.

What is one thing you would like to become better at?: 

Ross: There’s a couple of things. Being a better family member and spending more time with them. It’s hard when you’re on tour though. But I do want to get better at keeping in touch because I feel like I’ve really let that go.

Mark: Start enjoying things more. Worry is a killer.

Andrew: Writing things down I think. Because I always think things, and think “oh that sounds really good.” It’s probably not really good but at least if I wrote it down I could look back and think “you’re a dick that’s actually rubbish” and censor myself.

Which musical instrument do you wish you could play?:

Andrew: Well bass would be a good start. No I use to play Cello until I was about 9 I suppose and then I stopped. Now I’m really gutted because one of the guys from Twin Atlantic plays the Cello on stage and it sounds amazing.

Mark: I wish I could play Cello as well actually. I’m gonna learn it! Fuck it! I’ll show you up!

Andrew: I’ve actually had to learn a few bits on the keyboard for some new music we’re writing so hopefully I can do that on stage.

Ross: I want to learn how to play the piano.

Mark: He can actually play the piano, he’s being very modest but he can actually play.

Andrew: I actually found a bass with a keyboard on it and I think I have to get it.0

What’s your favourite method of apologising?:

Ross: Carrier pigeon.

Mark: I never apologise…because I am never wrong.

Ross: If we go back to the earlier question, the thing Mark would like to be better at is being more modest.

Mark: No, seriously I think the best way to apologise is sincerely.

Andrew: I’m a big fan of the ancient technique of grovelling. On the knees grovelling. The more you humiliate yourself the more you mean it.

What is the stupidest thing you have ever done?

Andrew: Oh my god.

Mark: How long have you got? We did a couple of shows last year, we were playing a club, and we had done the first line of the first song and I fell backwards into the drum kit. We carried on and everything was fine and then the next night about three songs into the set I did the same thing again. Everybody thinks I either did it on purpose or I can’t stand up. The band should probably all wear hard hats and hi-vis.

Andrew: I have thought of one, it’s not very funny but it’s definitely stupid. I once poured a whole bowl of boiling water over myself. I was inhaling smelling salts because I had a cold and I whipped my head up and the whole bowl went over on me. It REALLY hurt.

Ross: Probably admitting that I had a fear of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Mark: *starts to sing Thomas the Tank Engine theme tune*

If you could try any job for a week what would you try?

Ross: Probably something to do with sharks, is that a job?

Mark: What like a loan shark?

Ross: No! Like a Marine Biologist, I’d give that a go.

Mark: I think I would like to be Tom Cruise in Top Gun. Fly F 14’s circa 1986, just for a laugh. Mostly just to wear the glasses. Even if I couldn’t fly the planes, just wear the glasses. Danger zone!

Andrew: I would probably try to be a bin man or something. But I would have to do it in a musical style like swing around lampposts singing happy songs. Mate, you have got to have so much strength to do that job.

Lonely The Brave will re-release their debut album The Day's War on June 8^th and can be pre-ordered now.

Catch them live on these dates .

All Time Low, Kingston Hippodrome 22.03.2015

Less than four months into 2015 and All Time Low have already had a co-headline arena tour of the UK, shot what is set to be a spectacular live DVD at London’s Wembley Arena and are now drip feeding us songs from their upcoming album Future Hearts. But the pop-punk legends didn’t fail to deliver a classic acoustic performance at Kingston’s Hippodrome which took over-joyed fans back to a simpler time. 

All Time Low are no strangers to first-rate acoustic shows. In 2009 their MTV Unplugged special CD entered the Top 25 Alternative Chart in the US not to mention an abundance of well-watched stripped down You Tube videos.

But since everything the Baltimore rockers do is doused in an exceptional level of success, with only more to come, it would be easy to assume that these days are long behind them.

Thankfully that’s not the case and there was nowhere more apt to prove that then at Kingston’s Hippodrome, where they played a similar set back in 2013.

Kicking off with 2009’s Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t) the nostalgic scene was well and truly set but the crowd was soon reminded what year it was with the much more recent belters, Backseat Serenade and Somewhere in Neverland, all performed to the bands trademark flawless standard and decorated with dick jokes.

Of course it wasn’t all yearning and reminiscence. It was technically a launch show after all and it was only fitting to present their new offering Kids In The Dark, the video for which recently popped up on the internet delighting fans across the world.

One highlight of the night for any die-hard fan came when frontman Alex Gaskarth was left alone to perform Remembering Sunday, from So Wrong It’s Right, the 2007 album that catapulted them into the pop-punk hall of fame. To make it that much more special Gaskarth wasn’t alone for long as he was eventually joined by The Voice US 2012 winner, and Hey Monday vocalist, Cassadee Pope.

With so much exceptional work coming from this band since 2007 some may have forgotten that their stellar song writing goes way back, but playing Remembering Sunday and Therapy back to back once again soon helped to remind us that these guys have all been honing these skills for years and they were pretty good to start with.

Real crowd pleasers followed in the form of Weightless and Dear Maria, Count Me In but at this point the mass were just pleased to be in their company. Never has a band had such a rapport with their fans, wearing masks given to them by the audience and discussing their various travel arrangements: “You travelled for 13 hours to be here? Why? You didn’t have to do that.”

But closing the show with another new song, Something’s Gotta Give, it was all of a sudden really obvious why this night was special. This is a band who are so good at writing songs that they can still play them and get the exact same reaction they did 6 years ago. Not one of the new songs they have released has disappointed their extensive fan base yet and it’s clear that in another 6 years these guys will still be going strong and still be playing, and writing, what can only be considered as anthems.

EofE - Beards, Jager with Sprite and Fifa

EofE has a remarkable 2014, touring with the likes of McBusted and The Vamps as well as playing a sold out hometown shown in Birmingham. 

Now they are attacking 2015 with a new single, Stars in Hollywood, to be released on March 9^th and a debut album to follow.

We caught up with the guys just before their pretty impressive set at Nottingham’s acclaimed Rock City (06/03) and made them face Louder Now’s Six Stupid Questions:

Who’s the last person on earth you would want to be stuck in a lift with?

Reece: Tom

Dan: Yeah, if you spent a week on a bus with him you would know why.

Nicky: Hitler!

Dan: If you met Hitler, you would be dead now.

Nicky: Yeah but I would want to ask him some questions, like, what are you playing at?

You’re offered half a million dollars to change all the lyrics to one of your songs for an irritating commercial. Do you consider it?

Luke: No. Half a million isn’t that much really is it?

Reece: Half a million isn’t that much? I wouldn’t mind that!

Luke: Yeah but it’s not half a million just for me is it? I’d have to split it with all of you.

Reece: Even if they offered us £50. I could do with a tenner.

Luke: I would do it for a million probably but it would depend on what the company was. I wouldn’t do it for Coca Cola. I would definitely do it for Durex. I would take £400,000 for Durex.

Is there anything you know this week that you didn’t know last week?

Dan: What I smell like if I haven’t showered for a week.

Tom: We already knew that.

Dan: Well there’s also no Nando’s in Nuneaton. I had to have Subway and then a pizza after, which to be fair was quite nice.

Reece: This week I found out that Jagermeister tastes really nice with Sprite. Those were the only two options on the bus. It was nice!

Nicky: I learnt that if you down a pitcher of Zombie…it will make you sick in your bunk.

Reece: He was laughing about the fact that he was sick in his sleep as well. You could have died. 

Have you ever had nightmares because of a film you saw?

All: Yes.

Nicky: The last scary thing I saw was Halloween and my sister had the mask in her room and I think I dreamt that I walked upstairs to her room and Michael Myers was there.

Tom: When was that?

Nicky: Last week.

Tom: I did not like the film It.  Luke had a meme on his phone of the clown in It and it was exactly the nightmare I had.

When was the last time you screamed at the TV?

Reece: Probably something football related, maybe the World Cup?

Nicky: Game of Thrones. Have you seen it? *THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN OMITTED FOR SPOILER ALERT REASONS* I absolutely screamed at the TV when that happened.

Tom: Fifa! We have this place where we all go to write songs (aka Dan’s house) and when it gets to midnight and we’re all really frustrated we tend to play Fifa. We were India, the worst team we could think of , but we were doing so well and then we just got knocked out.

Nicky: We lost 14 – 0 to Brazil.

Tom: The heart just wasn’t in it to be honest.

Dan: We all let the side down.

If you could chose, what decade would you most like to have been born in?

Reece: The 60’s, so I could be in my twenties in the 80’s. As long as I could get away with having long permed hair and wearing leather trousers and a leather jacket. I should be allowed to grow my hair.

Tom: You ARE allowed to grow your hair. You decided to cut it off and grow it on your face!

Reece: It’s an ongoing argument because I’m the only one who can grow a beard.

Luke: Well that’s just not true.

Reece: Yes it is.

Luke: No, because I can grow a beard.

Reece: No you can’t.

Luke: Yeah. I can. I just choose not to.

Tom: I would want to be born in the 60’s too so I can write all the best tunes that came out in the 70s and 80s. Reece copied me to make me look like an idiot. My answer was better.

Dan: I would want to be born in the early 40s so I could be in my prime in the 50s and 60s and then get old in the 80s.

Nicky: I would probably want to be born back when caveman was around.

Dan: What like 10,000 BC.

Nicky: Yeah. That was a good year. Back when they started tribal drumming and it wasn’t spoilt by silly guitars and stuff.

Luke: I would go for Victorian times. It seems like it was a better time back then.

Reece: I can so see you being a chimney sweep.

Luke: I wouldn’t be a chimney sweep, I would invent something like the telephone, you know what I mean? Make loads of money!  

Louder Now Meets The Milk!

Somewhere in between shooting a sterling video, appearing on Soccer AM, releasing exceptional singles and perfecting their upcoming album, The Milk somehow managed to fit in some UK tours. Luckily, Louder Now managed to grab a spot at their Leicester show at Lock 42 to catch a few words from the stars of 2012.

If you haven’t heard of The Milk yet then you have been missing out. As the future of working class hero pop-music they are relentless in their determination.  They have been touring the country unremittingly as well as making appearances at Ibiza and Mallorca Rocks with Ed Sheeran to name just two of their many achievements.

Having met whilst they were at school (apart from brothers Mitch, drums/vox/keys, and Luke Ayling, bass guitar) the four Essex lads all have strong connections that go way back.

“We’re all from the same town in Essex, Wickford” says bassist Luke, “Nothing much goes on and there are only two senior schools and we all went to the same one.”

As humdrum as the boys might find their hometown, that doesn’t make them love it any less. Lead Guitarist and Vocalist, Dan Le Gresley says that it’s “just like every county. There are parts which are nice and there are parts which aren’t. But it’s home.”

The Milk are also happy to admit that their Essex roots have influenced their music with Mitch stating that “in the end, it should be about time and place. Our songs sound like four lads growing up in Essex. Our album is called ‘Tales from the Thames Delta’ so it’s all very regional.

“If you pretend to be something you aren’t then you will get found out one day. I think it was the Arctic Monkeys that famously said “you’re not from New York City you’re from Rotherham.”

Luke also said: “You’ve got to write about what you know and you have to write about where you come from, and that is pretty much what we do.”

Credit where credits due, but it’s the rest of the country that have made up The Milks recent astounding tours. The boys acknowledge York, Sheffield and Leeds as great cities to gig in but they generally think that “a lot of the big towns are wicked.”

But what about the city Louder Now had the pleasure to meet The Milk in? “We’ve actually played Leicester a few times, in The Shed, when we were a punk thing a few years back” remembered Mitch, “ We had a thing going on with the Punk scene that we were trying to get involved in at the time and there were a few people who would come to support us in Leicester back then!”   

Hold up and rewind for a second. A punk thing? It’s hard to imagine that a band who have honed their skills in a soul/rock ‘n’ roll strand were previously a punk outfit. How did that happen? “Ah, it’s very easy. We didn’t like Punk” explains Mitch.

“We suddenly realised that we weren’t listening to Punk records” says Dan.

“We were in a Punk band because it was just easy to play, we didn’t have to have much skill to do it” says Luke.

So after kicking the Punk scene and dedicating themselves to the music they really loved (which, by the way, includes Belinda Carlisle, Bobby Brown and Michael Bolton) The Milk were formed and the world couldn’t be more grateful. With an impressive past, an electrifying present and a spine-tingling future The Milk can expect some great things to come their way.

Mitch said: “we’re constantly getting surprised by these big moments that happen to us so you just sort of move on to the next one. We headlined the Scala in London and thought, how could we top that? Then we played Ibiza and Mallorca Rocks in front of 3,000 people. How could we beat that? Then our manager calls and says well we’ve booked you to headline the Shepherds Bush Empire at the end of November.”

“As a band I think you’re never happy” says Dan “As soon as you’ve done one thing you want another and it’s a constant struggle.”

Luke goes on to say that “in some ways, it can be annoying because you don’t spend very much time basking in something that you have achieved because as soon as you’ve done it you’re just thinking okay, what’s next?

“I think we could aim for three Brit awards, a couple of Grammys, to headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury and an Arena Tour.”

After seeing exactly what The Milk has to offer live it’s likely that these achievements will be just the start for a band that are redefining the genres that they love and doing it in sheer style. Keep your eye on them because the future of music undoubtedly belongs to them. http://www.thisisthemilk.com//
http://www.facebook.com/thisisthemilk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLQqOpILDcI&ob=av2e   

Our Verdict: River City Ransom 'River City Ransom'

River City Ransom, hailing from York, have been creating their very own genre since early 2011. At the beginning of 2012 they unleashed their creation on their world in the form of their self-titled EP. Boy is it magnificent.

Opening track ‘This Day and Age’ eradicated all doubt surrounding what River City Ransom are aiming for. There is no better way to start this EP then with Adam Oliver’s fierce and unruly barking screams that shape this EP into the brilliant work that it is. But he is not doing it single handed.

The high energy of second track ‘Attack Attack!’ is owed in no small part to the high drumming skill of George Hird who adds the urgency to this track that makes it exceptional.

Throughout ‘River City Ransom’ Oliver’s screams are accompanied by the honed vocals of Zak Ford. Ford brings yet another aspect to this bands identity which secures this band from never becoming just another hardcore band in a sea of hardcore bands.

Third track ‘Strength from the Sun’ sees Elliot Sawyer leading the band with his outstanding command of the bass which adds yet another dimension to River City Ransom and makes it hard to imagine that there are any boundaries for this band. They are truly capable of some amazing musical feats.  

Almost everything about this band screams new generation. Everything, that is apart from the intricate guitar lines, from Niall O'Reilly that are somewhat nostalgic, mirroring an older age of rock that has needed reviving for far too long. This is best exhibited in ‘Strength from the Sun’ and an incomparable solo in fourth track ‘Fear and Loathe.’

Every facet of ‘Fear and Loathe’ is highly addictive and should probably come with a warning attached. The bass is highlighted, the guitars are evocative, the drums are perfectly dominating and both screaming and vocals are on top form.

Closing song ‘Lost Cause’ is the best way to close a work of this calibre. The vocals from Zak Ford are handled so carefully that they almost sound like they are being uttered in a different, more elegant, language.

The song, and the EP, is closed on a gleaming scream sequence from  Adam Oliver accompanied only by another helping of relentless and exciting drums from George Hird.

Exceptional work, masterfully crafted. Keep your eyes on River City Ransom because they are going to be re-defining and leading music for many years to come.   

Our Verdict: Sincerity 'Monuments'

Formed in 2011, it’s hard to pin point what melodic-metal quintet Sincerity should be most proud of in their short time as a band.

It could be Touring with Demoraliser. But then again it could be supporting  the likes of Hundredth, Liferuiner and Heights. When you think about it though it’s probably their flawless video. Actually, our money is on their EP ‘Monuments’.

Released on April 23^rd 2012, it really is impressive work for a band that was only formed about a year beforehand.

‘Monuments’ has metal written all over it and doesn’t fail to deliver the brutal tracks that anybody would expect from this band.

But there is another level to Sincerity which is melodically intriguing which makes them vastly more interesting than other, more generic, bands in this genre.

Opening track ‘Valour’ is an insanely brutal track that successfully introduces what Sincerity are. It’s heavy as hell and the screaming delivered by Jamie is perfectly dirty. Said vocals are given even more substance in this track with impeccable gang-vocals, which is always a nice treat.

‘Destiny’ follows and is a bit more reliant on the wicked guitar technique of JJ and Nathan. It’s easy to identify here that this band have a god-like command over their instruments. If ‘Valour’ didn’t convince you that you might be in for a rough ride at a Sincerity show, this one will do it.  

The melodic nature of this band is really showcased in third track ‘The Unbreakable’ with a really rather beautiful opening but a typically relentless beast of a track attached. It’s refreshing to hear a metal band that doesn’t have the attitude where it doesn’t matter what they’re producing, as long as it’s loud.

With the EP’s name sake ‘Monuments’ it becomes very clear that Sincerity have a great idea what they want to become and how they want to do it. Their sense of identity is flawless and will hopefully withstand anything that comes Sincerity’s way.

‘Monuments’ also sees the band surrendering their reliance on screaming and pulling out some marginally softer vocals. It’s a brave risk for a metal band but Sincerity manage it, highlighting their melodic technical side and retaining their metal roots as always.

To close on an aggressive note track ‘Ascendant’ is delicious steel. The song leads into a beat down that would be terrifying live but surprisingly turns into something quite beautiful. That is, after all, the epitome of Sincerity.

The closing line for this track, and the EP, is delivered almost a capella and is a touching way to close this masterful piece of work.   

'MONUMENTS' OUT NOW! http://sincerityuk.bigcartel.com/

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/monuments-ep/id520110558