{"id":77135,"date":"2019-03-13T13:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T13:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=77135"},"modified":"2023-04-07T14:24:39","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T13:24:39","slug":"review-former-wrestlers-champion-of-the-world-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-former-wrestlers-champion-of-the-world-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Former Wrestlers \u2013 Champion Of The World EP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-77136\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Former-Wrestler-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\"><\/p>\n<p>Derya Nagle is a man of many talents. Guitarist, producer and now solo artist. \u00a0<strong>Former Wrestlers<\/strong> is the name of his new project and it\u2019s literally one man\u2019s vision. He handles everything; writing, performing and producing, resulting in \u2018<em>Champion Of The World\u2019, <\/em>the sound of him branching out and having huge fun into the bargain.<\/p>\n<p>You might recognise Nagle\u2019s name as lead guitarist from tech-metal bands Good Tiger and The Safety Fire, but that isn\u2019t the genre he is playing around with here. Instead favouring a stripped-back rock-focused sound, bookended by two more experimental offerings. &#8216;<em>Canim Benium<\/em>\u2019 is a strangely quiet but affecting opener, musing softly upon lost love. Only then does he unleash the full-band sound of \u2018<em>Weekend Hobbies<\/em>\u2019. It\u2019s fast, it\u2019s fluid and has a real Good Tiger feel, only without the guitar flurries.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Former Wrestlers - Weekend Hobbies (Official Video)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_V0mv_vut30?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>Similarly, \u2018<em>Purple Morning<\/em>\u2019 has a real groove with the vocals and guitars\u00a0 slotting harmoniously together. It&#8217;s enough for you to wonder just how much input Nagel has on his other bands\u2019 song-writing, especially as he is a surprisingly good singer, taking to the higher registers in a format similar to that of Elliot Coleman. Lyrically too, he shares the slightly obscure approach, which is clearly heard as he compares his family to wild animals on \u2018<em>Mother &amp; Father Dearest<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Nagel\u2019s high-quality production is well regarded, having worked with artists like Protest the Hero and Frank Turner, with such pedigree it\u2019s no surprise the five-song set sounds excellent. Firm, flighty and focused, it also bites when it needs to. This is particularly true on the alienesque pitch-bent \u2018<em>Everyone Knows<\/em>\u2019, which sees him exploring different sonic space, but those production credentials keep it tight and flowing.<\/p>\n<p>While it doesn\u2019t reach the heights of Nagel\u2019s other projects, \u2018<em>Champion Of The World<\/em>\u2019 is much more than an experiment. There\u2019s enough quality songcraft here to warrant its release and although it\u2019s something he claims to dabble with at the weekend, hopefully <strong>Former Wrestlers<\/strong> isn\u2019t just a one-time project.<\/p>\n<p>3.5\/5<\/p>\n<p>\u2018<em>Champion Of The World<\/em>\u2019 EP by <strong>Former Wrestlers<\/strong> is released on 15th March.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Former Wrestlers<\/strong> links: <a href=\"https:\/\/formerwrestlers.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/formerwrestlers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/formerwrestlers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/formerwrestlers.bandcamp.com\/album\/champion-of-the-world\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Ian Kenworthy (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WhisperingSand\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@WhisperingSand<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;\u2018Champion Of The World\u2019 is much more than an experiment&#8230; hopefully Former Wrestlers isn\u2019t just a one-time project&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":77136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2269],"tags":[16711,15783,16710,15621],"class_list":["post-77135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-ep-review","tag-champion-of-the-world","tag-ep-reviews","tag-former-wrestlers","tag-ian-kenworthy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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