EP’s are looking increasingly likely to be the future of musical releases due to the modernisation of how listeners choose to access music. The sheer eclectic range and the way people purchase music, often track by track has altered the consumer market and the demand for music in a drastic way. Say goodbye to longer releases and hello to more frequent gunshot burst EP’s. LP’s are dead. Long live the EP.
Alt-rockers F.O.E.S (Fall of Every Sparrow) have done it justice too, their latest release ‘Antecedence’, a fitting title meaning to come before or to have priority, bustling to the front of the crowd, a bona fide release that merges many different genre styles, heavy riffs, heavenly vocal highs and even the odd scream or two. This Liverpudlian quintet have created an EP that will stir emotions in many and will justify them as having been earmarked as ones to watch.
Opening track ‘Rival Thrones’ crashes in with a rocky beat and the delicious caramel vocals of Chris Mackrill, adding a directionality to the song and a lyrical strength evident from the off. The guitars are haunting, all-encompassing and there is a heavy undertone present throughout the track, both lyrically and musically; vocalist Chris Mackrill declaring “I’ll just grab you by the throat”. The finale is saturated with a ferocious orchestra of guitars and drums, emanating in a gloriously controlled piece of feedback.
Chris Mackrill’s vocals are like a sweet, silky bourbon pouring over a mountain of frosty ice, an intoxicating brew of melody and spine-tingling, cinematic ooze. This is none more evident than in ‘El Penumbra’ which means ‘the shadow’ in Spanish, a nod to a disease which haunts Mackrill’s life, “my life’s been shadowed in the wake of a disease”. The hugely awesome and wonderful vocal section “I’ve been scared for months now, I’ve been hiding in plain sight for all to see” showcases his stellar vocal and lyrical ability and thoughts of this wave of noise live, hitting you like a warm air current upon a sunny day brings hairs to attention on the back of the neck.
‘This Is Kingdom Come’ launches like a rocket set for the skies with its blistering riff and ruthless drums, the vocal overlay bringing the song back down to earth. It has a Mars Volta sound to it, with an added British Indie vibe that gives it a unique, candied coating.
“I can’t run with anchors on my feet” in ‘No Sleepers Verse’ has to be the best lyric on the EP, the guitar trickling into your senses, Mackrill’s vocals lifting you from your feet, “you’ve been chasing shadows”. The song meanders around the mind, wrapping up your senses and requiring full focus, life’s problems drifting away. The chorus “we’ve been doing fine” is hard to disagree with, and if F.O.E.S continue to do more of the same or better, their future could well be ‘fine’, and then some.
DAVE BULL