ELITE : REVIEW
ELITE : REVIEW
As The Sun Sleeps - As Good As Gold Unsigned | Release Date : 20th January 2017
2016 wasn ’ t the best year for the pop punk scene but the start of 2017 promises a lot . One of the first releases this year comes from not-so-sunny Swindon from the boys in As The Sun Sleeps . Now most of us like a drink or two so opener ‘ Beering ’ is a refreshingly honest track to ease us in . The chorus flows on a pogo rhythm and bounce , coupled with guitarist Tom Rees infectious leads makes for a winning combination . ‘ Florida ’ contains one of the coolest and most confident lyrics of the year with vocalist Joe Beck stating , “ I know we ’ re not from Florida , we don ’ t surf but we make waves ”.
The great thing about this EP is it sits firmly on the punk side of the fence with crunchy guitars and Tom Shrimpton ’ s ability to inject pace into the songs to propel them along . Fans of The Story So Far and Knuckle Puck will definitely dig the likes of ‘ Forever Sick ’ and the grand finale of ‘ Nothing But Net ’. Beck and guitarist James Broadbank trading off vocals in one of the records softer moments , “ Six feet under , I should ’ ve left ”. As Good As Gold is full of confidence , well produced and varied , it manages to have some balls and not sound wet like a lot of other pop punk around these days .
Words by Joshua Clarke
Code Orange - Forever Roadrunner Records | Release Date : 13th January 2017
Code Orange have been slowly building a reputation over the past few years with their incendiary live shows and menacing slabs of hardcore . Despite still being fairly young the band have mature heads on their shoulders , so how does this come across in new record Forever ?
The title track disturbingly starts us off and the opening riff makes you move , its inescapable . Older fans of the band will be happy to hear that the quartet still knock out heavy as sin guitar riffs and Jami Morgan ’ s and Eric Balderose ’ s vocal trade off is still as devastating as ever . ‘ Kill The Creator ’ brings the energy and the start of the experiments . Halfway through the blistering opening segment everything goes soft , quiet , before steaming back into action . The effects don ’ t stop there as the culmination of the song goes from screeching guitars to bomb like explosions . Potential stand out track and biggest surprise comes in the form of ‘ Bleeding In The Blur ’, Reba Meyers vocals taking centre stage to throwback to the best nu metal had to offer in the early noughties .
The record steam rolls through and the ideas keep on coming , this is a remarkable piece of work from such young minds . It ’ s exciting , it ’ s fresh , it ’ s everything we want in 2017 . Sure their will undoubtedly be people who cry “ sell outs ” but those people need to stop living in the past and wake the fuck up . Code Orange is forever .
Words by Joshua Clarke
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