Paramore, Halestorm, We Are In The Crowd, Hey Monday, Next Stop Atlanta… stick a female as your lead and the comparisons will follow, though in this case you can take away the common denominator and We Caught The Castle’s Hollie Elizabeth is nothing like any of her cohorts.
Aurally, We Caught The Castle have a mature sound. ‘Time To Grow’ comes across as accomplished and focused, which then adds surprise to the fact that this is a band currently in their toddler years having only been around since 2009. It’s not the devastating vocals on ‘Generations’ that makes the record (although the screams sound very familiar in style to Oli Sykes’ on Bring Me The Horizon’s ‘Blessed With A Curse’), it’s the mix of heavy and lollipop sweet vocals that separate We Caught The Castle from the more well known bands within this genre.
Hearing a flair of Sierra Kusterbeck, ‘Time To Grow’ is the first track on the album, but it without a doubt has been the most played. Easily memorable, it’d make for a dramatic stage entrance when performed live. ‘Lips’ marks the halfway point in the album and the only moment in which you’d notice that We Caught The Castle are infact English without being told. The gang vocals from the Reading 5-piece here rounds off a contagious song that just begs to be repeated.
With the bass guitar courtesy of Robbie Everett, ‘Home’ has you nodding from point zero, and everything from here to the chilled out vocals makes for a song that ends up one of the strongest on the release. ‘Escape’ again aches of Bring Me The Horizon, and with one hell of an opening riff, ‘Memories’ appears to take the band into a heavier direction but also with a definite punk edge.
We Caught The Castle have earned a brownie points here as well with an intro and outro that bookends Time To Grow ever so perfectly.
This is a diverse and surprising album that is regularly able to hit you square in the face. Maybe Hollie Elizabeth doesn’t quite have the pipes of someone like Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale, but managing to be strong enough to dodge those ubiquitous and obvious comparisons is worth kudos in its own right.
LUCY GOODWIN