'Love, Blood, Family, You' amidst the shops

Somehow Belfast's flagship shopping centre didn't know what hit it on Friday, 18th July. Amidst the designer brands, fashionistas and chic shops a cacophony of hard edged rocking rattled the rafters of the architecture as Escape Fails ripped into an hour-long set to launch their début Cd.

All bar one track off Love, Blood, Family, You was aired for a crowd of family, friends, fans..and some stragglers who wandered unexpectedly to a congenially noisy set.

Banter about the price of the CD (in case anyone forgot...£6!) proved unnecessary as they fairly shifted off the shelves...helped no doubt by a confident airing.

Management asked, at one point, politely if EF could turn it down...well they did. A wee bit.

From album opener through to Wall the EF team may as well have been playing a stadium as they displayed a well-honed confidence in the limited space.

Played in CD running order (even if Ryan had to be reminded of the what song came where at least once!) the set may have been constrained by time and venue but EF maintained intensity.

Brighten the Blackest Sky, In the Arms of the Storm, Obsession and Wall particularly stood out when aired.

But overall, what was apparent was the album's running order made sense when played as a coherent entity.

Although CD closer Flarestar was left out - as explained by Ryan it's a personal, special song for the band - Love, Blood, Family, You's launch emphasised the heights EF can rise to, and judging from these beginnings they are starting to scale what could be heady heights.