In the last decade we’ve seen the likes of Alkaline Trio, Fall Out Boy, and Rise Against fly the flag proudly for the city of Chicago, but there’s a vibrant underground scene bubbling up right now and Rapids are the latest to impress. This four track EP features former members of the bands Slapstick, Dead End Days and Loveshot, but for my money they’ve quickly surpassed their earlier efforts with this excellent, yet brief, opening release.
‘Voyage Of The Damned’ is a driven punk-rock track that sets the EP up well. It’s quick, punchy, and smothered in great melodies. For a moment it does remind me of the late Captain Everything too, a band who I dearly miss, and this will please many other UK listeners. ‘Coroner Bar’ is then taken down a few steps but it builds nicely and showcases a more vulnerable and emotive side to the band, as does the somewhat distant ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’. The release closes with ‘RDWRER’, a powerful and reflective four minute effort and it’s all over too quickly for me. I’m onto my third consecutive listen by now and it’ll soon tick over into a fourth.
Vocalist Mike Petruccelli has a voice that oozes character here and this gives Rapids an accessible but well-travelled feel throughout. It’s warming and rough around the edges but it’s exactly these imperfections that Rapids use well. We aren’t listening to a band who have produced their sound to death here, it sounds real and grounded and those qualities will hopefully serve this band well.
‘Traction’ is available on a ‘pay what you want’ basis from Bandcamp and I highly recommend it. https://rapidsus.bandcamp.com/
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