{"id":263,"date":"2018-02-08T13:13:52","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T13:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-rivals-damned-soul\/"},"modified":"2019-01-21T20:54:36","modified_gmt":"2019-01-21T20:54:36","slug":"review-rivals-damned-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-rivals-damned-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"Review:\u00a0RIVALS &#8211; Damned Soul"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"tmblr-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r189_1280.jpg\" width=\"250em\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n<p>There\u2019s an increasing frequency of bands attempting to fuse together layers of genres, often resulting in unsettling, misshapen records; but for LA\u2019s\u00a0<b>RIVALS<\/b>, this couldn\u2019t be further from the truth.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u2018Damned Soul\u2019<\/i> is a pronounced debut LP, marrying pop-rock (with a deep weighting on the rock) with a consistent backbone of electronic synth-y hooks. Katie Wolfe, Sebastian Chamberlain and Micket Woodle have crafted a set of tracks layered with emotional complexity, with <i>\u2018Damned Soul\u2019<\/i> delivering a seductive sense of animosity that far surpasses the expectations of a debut album.<\/p>\n<p>From the inception of opening track <i>\u2018Over It\u2019<\/i>, <b>RIVALS<\/b> show they know how to build a song from the ground up, letting statement verses break into explosive choruses. It\u2019s a pattern which ebbs through the brunt of the album. Rather than simply experimenting with electronic sounds, <b>RIVALS<\/b> run with them, interlocking the harsh edges of the beats through each track, and occasionally truly setting them loose in head-turning breakdowns. Most notably on the titular track.<\/p>\n<p><!-- more --><\/p>\n<p><i>\u2018Damned Soul\u2019<\/i> was certainly born out of a dark place, made clear in the near haunting desperation of <i>\u2018Moonlit\u2019<\/i>, and the finger pointing of <i>\u2018Reflection\u2019<\/i>. However the undertones of self-appreciation and analysis in the lyrics give away a subtle softness to the tone of the record, with <i>\u2018Wild Things\u2019<\/i> and closing track <i>\u2018To: Leila\u2019<\/i> magnifying hopeful messages;\u00a0<i>\u201cWhatever you do, stay happy, stay bright, and don\u2019t, let demons, tear you up.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>A lesser band could rely on the strength of Wolfe\u2019s vocal to carry the album, but this is not the case on <i>\u2018Damned Soul\u2019<\/i>. <b>RIVALS<\/b> are calculated; they know the right balance between thriving instrumentals and gripping lyricism and know how to integrate melodies to produce memorable and energetic tracks. While their overall structure may have a touch too much of a rigid pattern, it has only led to ten exceedingly well thought-out tracks.<\/p>\n<p>4\/5<\/p>\n<p><i>\u2018Damned Soul\u2019<\/i> by <b>RIVALS<\/b> is out now on <b>Smartpunk Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Rivals<\/b> links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/WeAreRVLS\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WeAreRVLS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/WeAreRVLS\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Annabel Platt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s an increasing frequency of bands attempting to fuse together layers of genres, often resulting in unsettling, misshapen records; but for LA\u2019s\u00a0RIVALS, this couldn\u2019t be further from the truth. \u2018Damned Soul\u2019 is a pronounced debut LP, marrying pop-rock (with a deep weighting on the rock) with a consistent backbone of electronic synth-y hooks. Katie Wolfe, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[190,189,191],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-damned-soul","tag-rivals","tag-smartpunk-records"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review:\u00a0RIVALS - Damned Soul - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There\u2019s an increasing frequency of bands attempting to fuse together layers of genres, often resulting in unsettling, misshapen records; but for\" \/>\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:\u00a0RIVALS - Damned Soul - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There\u2019s an increasing frequency of bands attempting to fuse together layers of genres, often resulting in unsettling, misshapen records; 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Damned Soul","datePublished":"2018-02-08T13:13:52+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-21T20:54:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-rivals-damned-soul\/"},"wordCount":339,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-rivals-damned-soul\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r189_1280.jpg","keywords":["Damned Soul","RIVALS","Smartpunk Records"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-rivals-damned-soul\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-rivals-damned-soul\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-rivals-damned-soul\/","name":"Review:\u00a0RIVALS - Damned Soul - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-rivals-damned-soul\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-rivals-damned-soul\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_oczgq9lfGb1r8no6so1_r189_1280.jpg","datePublished":"2018-02-08T13:13:52+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-21T20:54:36+00:00","description":"There\u2019s an increasing frequency of bands attempting to fuse together layers of genres, often resulting in unsettling, misshapen records; 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