Demos

Hearts Under Fire - Letters

Owain Paciuszko 07/04/2010

Rating: 2/5

Surrey centric four piece make polished melodic rock in the vein of Alkaline Trio via Hole, opening this sophomore EP with the ferocious Liquid Luck showcasing Mary O'Regan's vocals which bring a nice ammount of the smooth and the rough to the table. Musically we're in quite familiar territory though, and without O'Regan's voice this song may drift into the ether like so many similar acts. However her voice isn't always enough, It's Not Me, It's You finds itself distinctively filling space between two tunes.

Light My Way has a nice bassline over the tracks intro, before becoming a touch cluttered in its erratic choruses, but the verses managed to capture a little of that old The Distillers spit and bile, but where they should flourish they flounder. Unfortunately Animals is a damp finale as well, sure it's raucous but it feels like it's happening in another room. It draws to a nice conclusion when the aural barrage drops out and O'Regan begins opining 'Are we animals?' before a predictable re-tread of the tepid chorus.

A rather disappointing release from this quartet, that masks any hoped for rawness in a slightly too shiny sound for the kind of music they're making. For fans of insipid angry-pop-rock there may be something to enjoy, but there's too much bubblewrap where there should be sharp edges.