So it's been a few weeks since my first review and the plan was and still is to do a new review each week. Unfortunately the past couple of weeks have been pretty busy to put it lightly, and so I have only just gotten round to finishing and putting up this review. Thanks for your patience, and trust me, each week there will be a new review. On top of this, it's getting round to gig season and so I will be posting reviews of those as and when they happen.
A few months back I was at The Marquee in Norwich seeing Dead Swans supporting a band called Defeater. Up until that night I'd never heard any of their music, but all I can say is that I'm so glad I have now.
'Lost Ground', like Defeater's first release 'Travels', is a conceptual E.P. The songs are a timeline through the life of an American WWII veteran from the beginning of the war to his post-war situation. The E.P explodes into the first track 'Red, White and Blues', an emotional and frank account of the man's enrolment in the army. This song sets the tone for the whole E.P with it's fury and fitting sadness. Lost Ground doesn't lose pace after this however, but instead forces itself straight on into the following songs.What Defeater cleverly do in Lost Ground is mix melancholic, slow sections with furious crescendos, crashing drums, solid guitar riffs and rasping vocal full of emotion to create an altogether intense release that really leaves you thinking, as well as appreciating fantastic musicianship. Concept albums are rarely seen in Hardcore, but this one works brilliantly. It's basis fits perfectly into the style, with a man promised glory, but left with nothing. This is a brilliant release which shows that the pain of war is much more than just a physical thing.
For Fans of: Comeback Kid, Have Heart, Dead Swans
Buy: 'Red, White and Blues', 'Beggin' in the Slums'
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