Despite them having released their debut album last year, this On VHS EP is actually my first contact with The Fierce And The Dead. Despite not knowing much about the band, our thoughts on their guitarist Matt Stevens are clear - we're putting him on for a show in March - 'nuff said.
When starting this review I made the conscious decision not to go back and listen to their previous work; I'd either like it a lot and then tear this EP apart, or completely hate it and tear the EP apart anyway.
So going in with clean ears, I begin.
The first half of the EP, 6666 and Hawaii follow similar patterns. 6666 opens up quietly in an almost drone pattern, but quickly drops into a math guitar reveal. For the majority of both songs the structure seemed strange to me in the sense that (paradoxically) it isn't that strange; it seemed almost like a verse-chorus structure. Satisfyingly, neither song remains that way, with 6666 having a drone/ethereal interlude and the second track Hawaii having a sparse and almost (appropriately) hawaiian guitar outro.
The third, eponymous track of the EP is On VHS. It starts with one mathy guitar, and then adds a second on top of it, before throwing a bassline in which makes me think of Talking Heads. Another thing the guitars in this track remind me of (but which I have no real backing for) is Pink Floyd prog (a la Echoes). Anyway, this track was pre-released, so take a listen.
The fourth and final track on the EP is (perhaps ironically) entitled Part 3, and is one of the stronger tracks. The beginning sounds almost Joy Division-esque to me, and as the song evolves it begins to sound like the love child of Explosions in the Sky and Talking Heads (with a bit of Mogwai thrown in). A good combination in my book!
I must admit, I am slightly disappointed. Not because the EP is bad - it certainly isn't bad - but because of the fact that out of the two tracks I think shine on the EP (On VHS and Part 3) one has already been pre-released. But it's definitely a solid EP. The second half is a fair bit stronger than the first, so anyone who don't like the first two tracks don't be put off listening to the rest, which I must say are really good.
All in all, this EP is definitely worth owning for the second half alone. I'd recommend a buy.
James
James
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