This review first appeared on our partner site www.devilsgatemedia.com
I missed last years Prong tour, where I would have found them all that sooner as support, but at least I now have my sweaty mitts and grateful ears fully focused on this.
This is why I love the job I have. You listen to a lot of
music, and bands tend to meld together, and genres overlap to the point you
feel you have heard this brand new band before, but sometimes, very rarely, you
get blown away.
.jpg)
A smile spreads across your face that you cannot wipe away no
matter what you do. Today that is KLOGR. This is the most exciting new band I
have heard this year and" Make a Stand" is a brutal slab of metal
genius, wrapped up in 3 storming new songs and 10 blistering live tracks.
Like me, when you find something you like to this extent you
will probably dive right in, grab Google by the keyboard and twist every piece
of information you can find until you have had your fill. The more I read the
more I liked these guys. According to Facebook the band name( Pronounced Kay -
log - are) is The law of Weber-Fechner: S = K_log_R. I will not even try and
explain that one, as I am still trying to get my head round the whole concept.
They have released two full-length albums, the last being" Black
Snow", which is a concept album around an environmental issue. This is
something very close to my own heart, and so these guys just took a massive step
up in my book.
Now, you could read the above and think, ‘Oh, here we go,
some soppy tree-hugging music here, mandolins, flutes and acoustic guitars’,
but you could not be further from the truth. This is a beast of a release.
The
three studio tracks start with the song " Breaking Down", a
machine-gun drum intro that leads to a track which goes across the genres.
Serious shredding, in your face vocals, with a killer chorus. This one does not
let up or get out of your head. This leads into "Make Your Stand",
and take your pick from influences here.
It starts with a chugging
Saliva/Megadeth riff that bites, slashes, and burns the eardrums. The vocals
veer up and down, and at the high points they reminded me of a little known
band of the past, Killer Dwarfs. Again, the guitar is outstanding, and you can
see where the comparisons to Mark Tremonti come from.
This band seem to cover all the metal decades as well. We
have old school metal, with nu-metal guitars, and all entwined in solid rhythm
and a pumping backbeat, which leads us to the final EP track in "Breathing
Heart", the best of the bunch, in my opinion, and that is some going.
A
slow start with the vocals taking main stage before THAT guitar picks up with
some slow, 80's ballad riffage for all of 10 seconds before bursting out and
making sounds I do not think I have witnessed before.
After the EP finishes I switch everything off and sit back
in wonder at what I have just heard. We have a massive band in the making here.
All the ingredients are there, and the only thing I could expect to be a
downfall would be not managing to pull it of live but I am just about to find
out if that is the case.
The live tracks begin with "Draw Closer" and Rusty
letting loose with some profanities so that's another tick in the box. The sound
was a bit flaky on this track, but as the tracks progress that is put to right,
and "Zero Tolerance" takes that chugging guitar to another level,
think Therapy?, early Green Day, Alterbridge or perfect Circle.
This young band
slot right in, and the guitar solo on this track is tremendous. I am kicking
myself I missed them live and hope it will not be long before they are back.
Although they only have two full-length albums, they have
already had another live release, which is very unusual from a band this young,
but this obviously shows the maturity and belief they have in themselves and
the support they have from the record label.
For me, this is another indication
that this band are going to be something special.
As the live tracks pass me by, I realise there are no weak
tracks, nothing for me to pick away at.
In fact as the songs progress they get
better and stronger. I cannot even pick out highlights due to the quality on
show. The vocals are pitch perfect, the guitars spot on and the drums
unrelenting. The production is astounding and the band sound as tight as my
trousers in the ‘80s!
I am going to be telling everyone to check this band out - simple as that. If
you are reading this, get onto their Facebook page, as they have plenty of
songs on there to sample.
If you are disappointed, your head is disconnected
from your body, you have no ears, or you are a One
Direction fan. Now I will leave you as I have two albums to buy….hello Amazon.
Review by Ritchie Birnie
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment