FIVES: THE BEST WONDER YEARS SONGSThis week Lansdale, Pennsylvania’s The Wonder Years released their fourth album - ‘The Greatest Generation,’ a record that sees the pop punk quintet reach their creative peak in a number of ways. With a wealth of material in their discography, Already Heard's Sean Reid and Tom Knott took on the tricky task of picking out the five best songs from The Wonder Years. Find out what we picked and let us know if you agree or disagree?
INTERVIEW: MALLORY KNOXFollowing the release of their superb 'Signals' album, Mallory Knox have certainly become ones to watch in recent months. We caught up with the band to discuss joining Search & Destroy Records, how vital the festival season and touring are, what it feels like to be a part
of the expanding British rock scene and much more.
ALREADY HEARD RECOMMENDS: OVER THE OCEANOver The Ocean have crafted a compelling, brooding record with their latest effort ‘Be Given To The Soil.’ With intense specific precision and delicate accuracy that echoes the likes of Explosions In The Sky and Sigur Ros. Jesse Hill from the band to discusses how the
album came together, the importance of precision, being compared to post-rock pioneers and more.
VERSUS: BRING ME THE HORIZON - 'THERE IS A HELL...' VS 'SEMPITERNAL'After a top ten UK album and an outstanding UK tour with festival dates on both sides of the Atlantic to follow, Bring Me The Horizon are having a fantastic 2013 and are now featured in the latest edition of "Versus." It's ‘There is a Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There is a Heaven, Let’s Keep it a Secret’ vs the bands latest release, 'Sempiternal.'
ALREADY HEARD TRACK GUIDE: ALEXANDER - SAY HELLOWe catch up with Newcastle Indie Rock quartet Alexander to find out more about their debut album 'Say Hello' for a “Already Heard Track Guide” feature.
INTERVIEW: TITLE FIGHTHaving briefly returned to the UK for the Hit The Deck Festival before starting a European
tour, we caught up with vocalist/bassist Ned Russin to discuss the bands progression in sound, differences between UK and US festivals, their recent split with Touché Amoré,
having friends on tour and more.
Album Review: Wot Gorilla? - Kebnekaise
Wot Gorilla? are back with their debut full length ‘Kebnekaise,’ a very commendable release that twists the usual sounds of progressive rock and makes it something of its own. The technicality from start to finish in this record is astounding with each band member mastering their instrument to a tee, contributing individually to create a very fresh and distinct sound for their niche genre.
Opening instrumental ‘I beat up the bathroom. I’m sorry’ distinctly welcomes Wot Gorilla?’s sound, a very quirky and upbeat interpretation of progressive rock and math pop. This is continued throughout the whole record and albeit occasionally repetitive, ‘Kebnekaise’ is far too catchy for that to be criticised.
‘Melted Welly’ introduces vocals from Mat Haigh whose soft sounds perfectly match the overall vibe of the record; any harsher sung vocals would sound out of place. This can be said for all except finale track ‘Snow White’ that welcomes distorted screams at the end. This wasn’t to be expected at all but I have to say that it worked surprisingly well; so well in fact that it would have been nice to hear similar throughout the record.
Short intro ‘SB’ flows directly into ‘Suspects,’ a track that is full to the brim with peculiar time signatures, a key element in Wot Gorilla?’s style. This is one of the reasons why the quartet sounds so distinct: you don’t know what to expect to happen at any point throughout the album on first listen, keeping you on your toes and hooking you from start to finish.
‘Hold Me Back’ initially slows ‘Kebnekaise’ down proving Wot Gorilla?’s innovative ability to explore all areas of their genre. This track is signature to the record, shifting from a slow rhythmic first half and progressing back to the Wot Gorilla? that has been so distinct previously throughout the record
I’ve been taken aback by the sound that these 11 tracks create: a combination of math, progressive rock and pop bundled together to produce an overwhelmingly infectious mash-up. If you haven’t given these boys a chance yet then do so and check out ‘Kebnekaise;’ like me you’ll question why you haven’t done sooner.
4/5
‘Kebnekaise’ by Wot Gorilla? is released on August 27th.
Wot Gorilla? links: Website|Facebook|Bandcamp
Words by Hannah Gillicker (@HannahGillicker)
