Cove have found themselves on a gradual-yet-noticeable incline over the past twelve months. Sharing stages with Our Hollow, Our Home, Create to Inspire and Holding Absence off the back of their debut EP ‘We Were Once Lost’, they can be nicely painted onto the expanding canvas of the British melodic hardcore resurgence.
Second EP ‘A Conscious Motion’ is an ambitious follow-up with a more dimensional approach to songwriting than it’s predecessor’s verse-chorus-gang-vocals affair. It opens dramatically with ‘Coincide:Collide’ as a buildup of clattering drumsticks, booming bass and snaking guitar patterns in its verses points to more confident musicianship within the Kent quintet.
Their understanding of restraint is also more apparent on this EP. The delicate guitar pattering in the verses of ‘All I Believe’ briefly apprehends the song’s pandemonium, before rewarding anxious listeners by releasing avalanches of thick metallic riffs into its chorus. This switching dynamic often compliments vocalist Ben Shorten’s lyrical traits, which verge between nihilistic self-loathing (“Lost in dark, I forget how the light tastes, dreams coincide and collide into nothing”) and a rage lunged directly at the people around him (“How can you live like this, blinded by ignorance, how can you live like this, it’s what’s making you sick”).
Comparisons to Architects and Northlane will be inevitable for Cove, but for a band on their second EP, ‘A Conscious Motion’ is a seriously impressive effort. It builds from the standard hardcore tropes of ‘We Were Once Lost’ and achieves that difficult balance of keeping listeners in suspense, while providing a hearty outlet for all moshing needs. If they can develop the progressive flow and dark restraint of this EP into a full album, we may have the breadwinner of the UK melodic hardcore movement on our hands.
3.5/5
‘A Conscious Motion’ EP by Cove is released on 23rd March.
Cove links: Website|Facebook|Twitter|Instagram
Words by Andy Davidson (@AndyrfDavidson)
