{"id":1515,"date":"2017-07-20T12:36:21","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T12:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T22:15:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T21:15:35","slug":"review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Dire Bloom – Seasons EP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Having grabbed our attention late last year with their debut EP, ‘Facade’<\/i>, Leeds quintet Dire Bloom<\/b> have wasted no time on delivering a follow-up. EP #2, ‘Seasons’<\/i>, arrives just over six months on, picking up where ‘Facade’<\/i> left off, albeit more raw and subtly intense.<\/p>\n

Throughout it’s clear Dire Bloom<\/b> wear their influences on their sleeve. Opener ‘Bittersweet’<\/i> weaves in with plucky guitars before exploding in a Basement-like fashion. Felix Kj\u00e5elberg quickly leaves his mark with an impressive vocal display that roars with passion in the chorus.<\/p>\n

‘Colour Blind’<\/i> combines light, reverb guitar lines with a steady tempo and honest lyrics that is reminiscent of Knuckle Puck. Likewise ‘The Art Of Giving Up’<\/i> thrives off bold instrumentation as it pushes to become the standout track. Guitarist Tom Cutts’ backing vocals alongside vivid drum work from Adam Kelly merely add to momentous sound Dire Bloom<\/b> stir up. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Final track, ‘Bleed Out’<\/i>, demonstrates a more dynamic approach. Duel vocals are complemented by a groove-ridden bass line courtesy of Ben Whynes with JJ Armstrong providing haunting guitar lines, before driving forward with raw, explosive guitars. While Kj\u00e5elberg gives one more convincing vocal display that is underpinned by fervent emotion.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, Dire Bloom<\/b> aren’t going to be a revelation in the emo or pop-punk world. However, the four songs on offer here do have longevity. The combination of big choruses and heartfelt and honest lyrics is pulled off perfectly. On further listens, there are signs of progress compared to ‘Facade’<\/i>. As a whole, ‘Seasons’<\/i> sounds bigger and tighter than its predecessor.<\/p>\n

When you combine both EP’s together, it’s clear Dire Bloom<\/b> are quietly developing a strong set of songs that shouldn’t be ignored. And although they have a tendency to lean on their influences, in time, this Leeds group will form an identity that will solidify them as one of the scene’s most exciting, up-and-coming bands.<\/p>\n

3.5\/5<\/p>\n

‘Seasons’<\/i> EP by Dire Bloom<\/b> is out now.<\/p>\n

Dire Bloom<\/b> links: Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by S\u00eaan Reid (@SeanReid86<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having grabbed our attention late last year with their debut EP, ‘Facade’, Leeds quintet Dire Bloom have wasted no time on delivering a follow-up. EP #2, ‘Seasons’, arrives just over six months on, picking up where ‘Facade’ left off, albeit more raw and subtly intense. Throughout it’s clear Dire Bloom wear their influences on their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2269],"tags":[1273,12398,1345],"class_list":["post-1515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-ep-review","tag-dire-bloom","tag-sean-reid","tag-seasons-ep"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Dire Bloom - Seasons EP - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Having grabbed our attention late last year with their debut EP, ‘Facade’, Leeds quintet Dire Bloom have wasted no time on delivering a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Dire Bloom - Seasons EP - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Having grabbed our attention late last year with their debut EP, ‘Facade’, Leeds quintet Dire Bloom have wasted no time on delivering a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seanreidportfolio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-20T12:36:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-11T21:15:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/2bda8e9fe75c537b6438744990d2e855\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r72_540.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"S\u00eaan Reid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"S\u00eaan Reid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: Dire Bloom - Seasons EP - Already Heard Staging","description":"Having grabbed our attention late last year with their debut EP, ‘Facade’, Leeds quintet Dire Bloom have wasted no time on delivering a","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review: Dire Bloom - Seasons EP - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"Having grabbed our attention late last year with their debut EP, ‘Facade’, Leeds quintet Dire Bloom have wasted no time on delivering a","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seanreidportfolio","article_published_time":"2017-07-20T12:36:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-11T21:15:35+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/2bda8e9fe75c537b6438744990d2e855\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r72_540.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"S\u00eaan Reid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"S\u00eaan Reid","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/"},"author":{"name":"S\u00eaan Reid","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/484dc00e54dea89663d06cb624a70cd9"},"headline":"Review: Dire Bloom – Seasons EP","datePublished":"2017-07-20T12:36:21+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-11T21:15:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/"},"wordCount":363,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/2bda8e9fe75c537b6438744990d2e855\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r72_540.jpg","keywords":["Dire Bloom","Sean Reid","Seasons EP"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews","EP Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/","name":"Review: Dire Bloom - Seasons EP - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/2bda8e9fe75c537b6438744990d2e855\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r72_540.jpg","datePublished":"2017-07-20T12:36:21+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-11T21:15:35+00:00","description":"Having grabbed our attention late last year with their debut EP, ‘Facade’, Leeds quintet Dire Bloom have wasted no time on delivering a","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-dire-bloom-seasons-ep\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/2bda8e9fe75c537b6438744990d2e855\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r72_540.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/2bda8e9fe75c537b6438744990d2e855\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r72_540.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/484dc00e54dea89663d06cb624a70cd9","name":"S\u00eaan Reid","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef81976bb8e011af71a662b656189e99562e2fa47bb3928dfb824b97e133334e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef81976bb8e011af71a662b656189e99562e2fa47bb3928dfb824b97e133334e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ef81976bb8e011af71a662b656189e99562e2fa47bb3928dfb824b97e133334e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"S\u00eaan Reid"},"description":"Based in Nottinghamshire, S\u00eaan Reid is the Founder and Senior Editor of Already Heard. Since 2008, he has been writing about a variety of bands from around the world for numerous publications. Away from music, S\u00eaan has several interests, most notably watching wrestling and football. You can find S\u00eaan on the following: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram","sameAs":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/seanreidportfolio","seanreid86"],"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/sean\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38806,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions\/38806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}