AvaGrace have been knocking about for a few years now, and have gained quite a bit of experience since their inception in 2011. This Kent quintet have shown off their talent in the form of their debut release ‘Letters to Home’, as well as sharing stages alongside Lower Than Atlantis, Mallory Knox, Dance Gavin Dance, Broadway, and many more.
They open proceedings with instrumental ‘The Lost Cartographer’. Instrumental’s are always difficult, they can either build powerfully and set up a record perfectly, or they can struggle to keep the listener from hovering over that skip button. AvaGrace have no doubt tried to engage the listener, with brooding melodies leaving an eery feel, however it does feel a little unnecessary.
But then however, their single ‘II Years’ arrives, which helps to pick this release off the ground. Raw, visceral drum work is mixed with colossal riffs to create something that shows potential. It’s powerful, and swaggers with confidence.
Vocalist Chris Horton seems to be the UK’s answer to both Chiodos’ Craig Owens and A Skylit Drive’s Michael Jagmin; his vocals are strong, clean, and able to hit them high notes with absolute ease and when mixed with the guttural screams that resound on tracks such as ‘The Beauty Of Sleep’ and ‘Lie Ability’, it works really, really well. ‘The Beauty Of Sleep’ is a huge standout track – it’s aggressive, and has one hell of a bite to it.
Closing with ‘Upon Reflection’, it’s clear that AvaGrace can be proud of themselves; while ‘Earth, Wind and Liars’ leaves room for improvement, it’s still strong. When performing live, AvaGrace simply shine – they exude vibrant power and energy when on stage, and can command a room’s attention with ease and confidence, which they’ve managed to translate rather easily into recorded format.
JESS TAGLIANI