Based out of Suffolk rock-shop quartet Strike The Sun break out their first EP The Storm and it ain’t half bad Mum. In complete control of their SEO (Search Engine Optimization) the female fronted rockers have a tinge of the dark blood running through their veins. All that means is that the groups’ vocalist is a mezzo-soprano but oh you wanted to know about dark blood?
Let us then talk of The Storm EP which although it appears as a quaint indie release actually hides a deep and dark theme behind its corporate styled imagery. The struggle of young artists to assert their community goals, or such and whatnot, with some good olde Gothic sensibilities.
Rich in hyperbole their lyrics convey a fantastic narrative. Delivered with gusto the female who fronts Strike The Sun (a.k.a. Louise) winds the tales with convincing and belligerent authenticity in unison to the chatty guitars. The storytelling qualities coming from her vocal melodies are enticing in both sound and content. While their powerful and commanding delivery will make you think they’ve mistakenly substituted mermaids for sirens.
With only four tracks this EP does the most important thing within its short space of time and that’s to leave you wanting more and although it doesn’t put its best foot forward Strike The Sun rapidly develop their musical prowess to apply quality song writing where it’s required. The Storm EP is definitely a strong grower with the compositions gaining momentum in their intensity as the recording progresses.
The dynamics of the recording are a bit flimsy however, which is the only downfall for the East Anglican group. It’s fortunate then that the songs are so compelling because the production quality really doesn’t represent the imagery the artwork presents, unless it’s exemplary of a very British sense of irony, because the dry mixture contains enough substance to make bath bombs with. A little more time in the production pool wouldn’t hurt.
Strike The Sun’s debut EP challenges promising talent with a cold and damp action and while they may don’t sound their best in the roughness of the mix their firmly poised compositions are alluring enough to warrant spending more time with them the eye of The Storm.
8/10
