{"id":69017,"date":"2018-09-05T16:00:39","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T15:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=69017"},"modified":"2018-09-05T22:41:11","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T21:41:11","slug":"review-counterparts-private-room-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-counterparts-private-room-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Counterparts &#8211; Private Room EP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-69019\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Counterparts-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Counterparts\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Counterparts-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Counterparts-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Counterparts-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Counterparts.jpg 425w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Counterparts <\/strong>should stick to ripping out riffs, marketing isn\u2019t their strong point. The Canadian band are highly regarded and have been hammering out blistering punk since 2007. Five albums into their career, and after a line-up shuffle, they\u2019re about to release their new EP \u2018<em>Private Room\u2019<\/em>. Yet, they half-heartedly describe it as a collection of B-sides. It doesn\u2019t exactly fill you with excitement, but if you\u2019re thinking low quality, unwanted, second-rate experiments not fit to make the album, you\u2019re wrong. Basically, <strong>Counterparts<\/strong> are underselling it.<\/p>\n<p>Taken from sessions for their two most recent albums, the three songs clock in at a frantic six minutes, not a lot to get your teeth into (assuming the music doesn\u2019t knock them out). <strong>Counterparts<\/strong>\u2019 sound is often described as <em>&#8220;melodic hardcore&#8221;<\/em>, which is misleading. Make no mistake, it\u2019s accessible, but they\u2019re not suddenly going to break into a huge swooping chorus. Neither are there any rousing Comeback Kid style yell-alongs. Brendan Murphy has one vocal style; intense. On prior album,<em> \u2018You\u2019re Not You Anymore\u2019<\/em>, he didn\u2019t so much flirt with melody as give it a wink across a crowded room and it\u2019s the same here.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Counterparts &quot;Monument&quot;\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/heacnHcCTes?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Opener \u2018<em>Monument<\/em>\u2019 is a potent brew of vicious drumming, eerie guitar lines and fist-pumping vocals. Rousing, yet subtle, and violently to the point, it makes a real impression, belonging with the best songs in their catalogue. \u2018<em>Selfishly I Sink<\/em>\u2019 is an entirely different beast, cramming a surprising amount into its runtime. The initial brutal assault gives way to punky chugs, catching you off guard with frantic sections using the space to sound crushingly heavy. Final track \u2018<em>We Forgive<\/em>\u2019 was clearly recorded for their 2015 album, by a different line-up, and feels a bit tacked on. A prominent jaunty guitar riff and more straightforward sound, it isn\u2019t bad but is totally eclipsed by the other tracks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Counterparts<\/strong> should be proud of the three songs making up \u2018<em>Private Room\u2019<\/em>. One superb, one satisfying, one solid.<\/p>\n<p>3\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8216;Private Room&#8217;<\/em>\u00a0EP by\u00a0<strong>Counterparts<\/strong>\u00a0is released on 7th September on\u00a0<strong>Pure Noise Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Counterparts<\/strong> links:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/counterpartsband\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> |\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/counterparts.merchnow.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a>\u00a0| <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/counterpartsband\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/counterparts905\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Ian\u00a0Kenworthy (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/whisperingsand\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@WhisperingSand<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Counterparts are underselling &#8216;Private Room&#8217; as it&#8217;s something they should be proud of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":69019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2269,3],"tags":[429,15783,15621,15835,66],"class_list":["post-69017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-ep-review","category-reviews","tag-counterparts","tag-ep-reviews","tag-ian-kenworthy","tag-private-room-ep","tag-pure-noise-records"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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