Scrapp! FIGHT MAGAZINE
May - 2016
49
tagonist began typing steadi-
ly on his phone. From a room
only lit by a cell phone and
a mind peering through the
fog of intoxication came the
following review:
This is one hell of an EP.
At the moment it is stream-
ing on Spotify and it was
well worth downloading the
app on my television just to
check out this handful of
tracks. I’ve probably listened
to it ten or fifteen times now
and I couldn’t point out one
thing I honestly don’t like
about it.
One thing I can point
out that I do like about this
release is the vocals. Imagine
“End of Heartache”-era Kills-
witch Engage peppered with
moments of late seventies-
early eighties hard rock. The
chemistry and connection
within the band is palpable
in the way that everything
fits together. The instrumen-
tation is crisp and there are
even a few really tasty gui-
tar solos scattered out here
and there. The drumming,
though, grabbed my atten-
tion literally right away. The
tone was so nice and punchy
and, especially in the track
“Rise with Me” you can real-
ly feel them. So many people
overlook drums, but a good
drum sound can make or
break a song or an entire al-
bum. Metal fans who are of
a certain age will remember
Metallica’s St. Anger. While
there was nothing that could
have made that album good
the fact that it sounded like
they replaced Lars’ snare
with a trashcan lid made it
an utter travesty, but I di-
gress.
The only thing I had a
real issue with is that it isn’t
a full album. The first time
I played it through it ended
too soon and too abrupt-
ly for my liking. I was left
staring at blankly at my TV
muttering “What the hell
happened?” I definitely rec-
ommend this EP. It’s stream-
ing free so if you don’t like it
you lose nothing. Now I will
direct myself to bandcamp
to check out Northlander’s
demo while hoping that
these guys decide to record
a full-length release soon.
