{"id":77130,"date":"2019-03-21T15:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T15:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=77130"},"modified":"2023-04-07T14:24:20","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T13:24:20","slug":"review-follower-against-the-ropes-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-follower-against-the-ropes-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Follower &#8211; Against The Ropes EP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-77131\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Follower-Against-The-Ropes-EP-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Follower - Against The Ropes EP\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Follower-Against-The-Ropes-EP-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Follower-Against-The-Ropes-EP-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Follower-Against-The-Ropes-EP-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Follower-Against-The-Ropes-EP-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Follower-Against-The-Ropes-EP-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Follower-Against-The-Ropes-EP-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Follower-Against-The-Ropes-EP-30x30.jpg 30w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Follower-Against-The-Ropes-EP-465x465.jpg 465w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Follower-Against-The-Ropes-EP-500x500.jpg 500w, https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Follower-Against-The-Ropes-EP.jpg 1417w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Guildford newcomers <strong>Follower<\/strong> haven&#8217;t wasted any time in laying down a marker for them to build on. Admittedly, their brand of melodic &#8220;Brit Rock&#8221; has been churned out repeatedly in recent years, and more often than not, it&#8217;s forgettable. Nevertheless, <em>&#8216;Against The Ropes&#8217;<\/em> avoids falling into that trap, delivering a promising set of songs.<\/p>\n<p>Straight from the start, <em>&#8216;Fallen Down&#8217;<\/em> confidently sets the momentum with Ollie Moor and Damien Mcvey&#8217;s surging guitars and Cody Jones&#8217; punching drums. Likewise, vocalist Luke Archer shines during its anthemic chorus as towering guitars and occasional<em> &#8220;woah&#8221;<\/em>&#8216;s provide a contrast to his words of mental struggles. Lyrically, it setups a narrative that weaves its way through these six songs.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s followed by <em>&#8216;Voices&#8217;<\/em>, where Archer searches for a way to <em>&#8220;cure this pain&#8221;<\/em> against a relentless backdrop of intense alt-rock. It&#8217;s clearly evident that structurally <strong>Follower<\/strong> has taken influence from the kind of bands that have come before them, yet its executed with precision, pulling you in before delivering an impassioned chorus.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Follower - Faded (Lyric Video)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/26G1opo8M3k?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><em>&#8216;Faded&#8217;<\/em> hints at a more reflective side of <strong>Follower<\/strong> with its twinkling verses, before delivering one of the EP&#8217;s most infectious choruses; its bouncing tempo and bright vocals. Representing the emotional release, it nicely builds up to one of Archer&#8217;s best moments on here, passionately proclaiming <em>&#8220;It\u2019s time to see some sense before I break&#8221;<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For a debut EP, <strong>Follower<\/strong> more than show their potential even though they sink into expected tropes. <em>&#8216;Someday Soon&#8217;<\/em> is your typical reflective and uplifting number that treads on modern power ballad territory. Nevertheless, it neatly segues into <em>&#8216;Hurricane&#8217;<\/em>. While it teases of heading in a lyrically similar fashion, it&#8217;s clear <strong>Follower<\/strong> thrive when they deliver soaring choruses filled with emotion.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8216;Dreamer&#8217;<\/em>\u00a0ends the EP on a high note. Thriving with urgency, it again highlights the collectives tightness with Archer sounding resolute as he sings <em>&#8220;no more make-believe&#8221;.\u00a0<\/em>It rounds out a strong first outing but with room to grow.<\/p>\n<p>3.5\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8216;Against The Ropes&#8217;<\/em> EP by <strong>Follower<\/strong> is released on 22nd March.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Follower<\/strong> links: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/followerofficialuk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/followerbanduk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/followerofficialuk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/followerofficialuk.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by S\u00eaan Reid (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/seanreid86\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@SeanReid86<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;For a debut EP, Follower more than show their potential\u2026 a strong first outing but with room to grow.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2269],"tags":[16709,62,16708,12398],"class_list":["post-77130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-ep-review","tag-against-the-ropes-ep","tag-already-heard","tag-follower","tag-sean-reid"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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