Lost Atlanta have been doing very well for themselves recently. The past year alone has seen them play at Butserfest, Deadbolt Festival and Takedown, and tour with bands such as Amaryllis, Breathe In the Silence, and Skies In Motion. Somehow, amongst their busy touring schedule, this quintet found time to enter Foxhound Studios to record ‘Alive’ with Mike Bennett, the follow-up to their 2014 EP ‘Hold. Heart’.
From the start, Lost Atlanta show that they’re a force to be reckoned with. From the opening chords of title track ‘Alive’, they launch a full-out assault, crushing speed and aggression to create this blistering track. They deliver monolithic riffs and colossal waves of power during ‘Distractions’, which features guest vocals from Charlie Holmes. The vocal interplay between Charlie and Lost Atlanta frontman James Drake is fuelled with frenetic energy; they both compete with each other to outdo the other, which isn’t possible as both are fantastic vocalists.
‘Into the Grey’, featuring Tim Henson of Polyphia, is one of the more ‘ambient’ tracks on this release; it brings a breather to such a whirlwind EP. ‘Losing Sight’ and ‘These Words’ yet again deliver huge slabs of punchy rock attitude, rounding off a very, very strong release from Lost Atlanta. Throughout this release, James’ vocals have been a sheer delight; they’re huge, and simply soar over their slick riffs. His guttural screams are rough and raw.
If there’s one thing that Lost Atlanta can definitely look forward to as 2015 slowly inches to a close, it’s that they’ve created a blindingly brilliant EP in the form of ‘Alive’.
JESS TAGLIANI