{"id":29850,"date":"2013-04-10T10:45:29","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T10:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-scholars-always-lead-never-follow\/"},"modified":"2018-03-17T15:15:12","modified_gmt":"2018-03-17T15:15:12","slug":"album-review-scholars-always-lead-never-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-scholars-always-lead-never-follow\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Scholars – Always Lead, Never Follow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"Scholars<\/strong> have been on the fringes for a few years now and their eagerly anticipated debut album, \u2018Always Lead, Never Follow\u2019,<\/em> is a huge step in the right direction. Produced by Larry Hibbitt (he of Hundred Reasons fame) and released by the excellent folk at Banquet Records, this thirteen track album is stacked full of hooks, soaring melodies and big break downs.<\/p>\n

\u2018Bad For Business\u2019<\/em> isn\u2019t the strongest of opening tracks, aside from a pretty solid chorus riff, but from there the album really kicks on. \u2018Rage Concern\u2019<\/em> is a punchy and forceful two minutes and its un-mistakenly British vocals are great to hear. \u2018Ties\u2019<\/em> is equally as impressive with its pounding beat and slightly angular break downs.<\/p>\n

Whilst it\u2019s easy to hear the Hundred Reasons influences in the early few tracks \u2013 from \u2018Damage\u2019<\/em> onwards you also get a heavy Billy Talent vibe. It\u2019s the fast pace, the quick lyrics and the yelped backing vocals. It\u2019s a huge track though and probably the standout moment on the album. This continues with tracks such as \u2018More Medicine\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Black And Blue\u2019.<\/em> They aren\u2019t quite as catchy as the Canadian band can be, however the lead vocals are certainly more palatable for extended periods.<\/p>\n

There are a few lulls along the way \u2013 notably \u2018Scaredy Cat\u2019,<\/em> one of the older tracks on the album. I\u2019ll credit the band for slowing the pace but it\u2019s a fairly mundane three minutes before eventually bursting into life. In truth though Scholars have treated us to a fairly breathless opening thirty minutes before this and there always needs to me some slack cut on a debut album. By the time we reach \u2018Waiting\u2019,<\/em> with its ghostly backing vocals, this album has been a thoroughly impressive effort and one which should push Scholars onto bigger stages.<\/p>\n

\u2018Always Lead, Never Follow\u2019<\/em> is the crowning moment of the last six years for Hemel Hempstead based Scholars<\/strong> and their debut album comes at an excellent time too. Whilst a number of formerly promising UK bands have lost faith in their original guises and changed names and approaches \u2013 no one has stepped up and grabbed the mantel for themselves. Until now, that is.<\/p>\n

4\/5<\/p>\n

‘Always Lead, Never Follow’<\/em> by Scholars<\/strong> is available now on Banquet Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Scholars<\/strong>\u00a0links:\u00a0Official Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a>|Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Tom Beck (@HeyMercedes<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scholars have been on the fringes for a few years now and their eagerly anticipated debut album, \u2018Always Lead, Never Follow\u2019, is a huge step in the right direction. Produced by Larry Hibbitt (he of Hundred Reasons fame) and released by the excellent folk at Banquet Records, this thirteen track album is stacked full of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[5879,12394,3016,150,8828],"class_list":["post-29850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-album-reviews","tag-always-lead-never-follow","tag-banquet-records","tag-music","tag-scholars"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlbum Review: Scholars - Always Lead, Never Follow - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Scholars have been on the fringes for a few years now and their eagerly anticipated debut album, \u2018Always Lead, Never Follow\u2019, is a huge step in the right\" \/>\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=\"Album Review: Scholars - 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