Off the back of a successful free EP last year and a support slot at Elliot Minor’s final show, London-based five-piece Amaryllis have certainly been hitting the right notes. Their self-titled EP turned all the heads it needed to, and after what feels like no time at all the capital-dwelling quintet are back with ‘The Revolt’, a five-track follow-up to further soothe Britain’s insatiable appetite for home-grown rock.
‘Kings’ fires the EP into life with exactly the intensity you’d expect from a band quickly making a name for themselves through both recorded efforts and furious live shows. Instrumentally, the rockers are red hot, to the point that when vocalist Sante Moonie enters the fray the almost unexpectedly clean vocals seem, if anything, slightly out of place amidst riffs and fills that hit like cinderblocks. By the time that ‘Stand Down’ slithers into life however, everything is gelling as it should and Moonie sounds far more at home amongst the chaos. Amaryllis as a whole show similarity to much of their metalcore brethren in saving each song’s best shots for its chorus, with ‘Stand Down’ and next track ‘Prophecies’ being the epitome of this trait. It comes in short bursts, however, and you can’t help feeling in some verses as if the ensemble lacks a little power when there should be some serious eardrum blowouts happening. It becomes obvious that Amaryllis are a band still growing into their sound and while they certainly possess the talent to headline the stages they’ve previously shared with the likes of Elliot Minor and The Dirty Youth, the quintet need to be firing on all cylinders in order to make the impact needed to make the jump.
‘Prophecies’ continues to prolong the overarching theme of ‘The Revolt’, an EP seemingly destined to stay memorable but fall frustratingly short of standing out. The track marking the EPs half-way point is arguably its strongest one, full of potential to whip live crowds into frenzied states, leaving you thinking that if their future efforts can take this and run with it, you’ll see Amaryllis confidently continue their ascent upwards and through the glass ceiling they’re currently looking tantalisingly up to from below. Not a track to die away without one last kick, ‘Prophecies’ crams in an anthemic outro and so far it is easily the highlight of the quintet’s work so far. Amaryllis are still piecing together their recipe for success, but you can bet that ‘Prophecies’ will feature prominently in the final formula. ‘Goodbye’ follows with all the leftover ferocity that the five-piece hadn’t already thrashed out leaving EP closer ‘Strangers In August’ as a crack at something different, mostly acoustic save for one final flourish at the track’s conclusion, a flourish which really should have been dialed up to the nth degree in order to give ‘The Revolt’ a seriously epic send-off. What you get isn’t dissatisfying, but there is that lasting feeling that it could have been so much more, making it – rather ironically – the most fitting ending the EP could have.
Amaryllis are certainly making a solid start to life, but it feels right now as if the quintet are just one shark amongst the shiver, none of them any less hungry than the others but each still hunting for that one bite that takes them away from the pack and into their own personal feeding frenzy. It’s a fitting metaphor for a band that are by no means without teeth; they simply haven’t yet got to using them at full capacity. You‘ll definitely be hearing more from Amaryllis in years to come, from higher places and bigger stages too, but it seems the real spark is still to come.
3/5
‘The Revolt’ by Amaryllis is out now
Amaryllis links: Facebook|Twitter|Bandcamp
Words by Antony Lusmore (@Metacosmica_)
