{"id":8469,"date":"2015-08-17T15:30:35","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T15:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-pop-evil-up\/"},"modified":"2015-08-17T15:30:35","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T15:30:35","slug":"album-review-pop-evil-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-pop-evil-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Pop Evil &#8211; Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/3b7f577b40e25792498a66293011159a\/tumblr_nt6vnxi6oM1r8no6so9_r1_1280.jpg\" width=\"250px\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">Driven by a conviction known only to the purveyors of hard rock, <b>Pop Evil<\/b> have demonstrated that the only way is <i>\u2018Up\u2019<\/i>.<\/figure>\n<p>The Michigan quintet take commercial success in their stride, joining the ranks of bands passionately reviving traditional confident rock \u2018n\u2019 roll infused with present day tricksy atmospherics. <i>\u2018Up\u2019<\/i> is a lengthy statement of intent &#8211; with 15 tracks of petrous energy, its content should probably have been split into two separate releases.<\/p>\n<p>The surreal opening of <i>\u2018Footsteps\u2019<\/i> pushes straight into a driven rock beat, holding sincere conviction behind every word that leaves vocalist Leigh Kakaty\u2018s lips. <i>\u201cLook what you\u2019ve done to me,\u201d<\/i> calls out the defiant <i>\u2018Core\u2019<\/i> beyond an impressive solo, contrasting with the trudging <i>\u2018In Disarray\u2019<\/i> with its grungy melody and sassy monotone vocals.<!-- more --><\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>The groove of <i>\u2018Take It All\u2019<\/i> may be somewhat repetitive, but it\u2019s catchy as hell, drawing an effortless contrast with the subtle reflection of <i>\u2018If Only For Now\u2019<\/i>, while the scene-setting filler of <i>\u2018\u2026\u2019<\/i> showcases Nick Fuelling\u2019s intricate fretwork in its most natural state.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u2018Ways To Get High\u2019<\/i> begins on a lulling tone before a key change into an energised high-pitched dream state, calling comparison with the Foo Fighters, further emphasised by <i>\u2018Dead In The Water\u2019<\/i>, an equally melodic and ethereal reflection upon a betrayal.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cShe said \u2018come over to the dark side\u2019,\u201d<\/i> recalls the brash anthemic <i>\u2018Lux\u2019<\/i>, while the intricate opening notes of <i>\u2018Vendetta\u2019<\/i> convey a forceful and defiant character, delivering a trudging riff alongside a reminder that <i>\u201ceverything has to fade.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The album highlights surface beyond the halfway mark, in the form of contemplative <i>\u2018Seattle Rain\u2019<\/i> and gloomy <i>\u2018Til Kingdom Come\u2019<\/i>. While the former heralds a hopeful turn to the acoustic alongside Leigh\u2019s appropriate vocal drawl, the disillusioned latter pours its heart and soul out on track.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cAll the walls that I built start to cave in,\u201d<\/i> cries the helpless <i>\u2018Confessions\u2019<\/i> beyond its strikingly techy infusion, offsetting the stomping menace of <i>\u2018Ghost Of Muskegon\u2019<\/i> where stickman Joshua Marunde truly comes into his own. Closing appropriately on an acoustic rendition of lead single <i>\u2018Footsteps\u2019<\/i>, the haunting notes of Leigh\u2019s vocals take centre stage, and rightly so.<\/p>\n<p>While nothing particularly ground-breaking, <i>\u2018Up\u2019<\/i> is a perfect soundtrack to a chilled afternoon. Ethereal and technical, passionate and distraught, <b>Pop Evil<\/b> have mastered the entire emotional spectrum amid gloriously rock-driven tones &#8211; it\u2019s just a shame it took 15 tracks to get there.<\/p>\n<p>3.5\/5<\/p>\n<p><em>&lsquo;UP&rsquo;<\/em> by <strong>Pop Evil<\/strong> is released on 21st August on <strong>eOne Music<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pop Evil<\/strong> links: <a href=\"http:\/\/popevil.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/popevil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>|<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/popevil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Ali Cooper (<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/AliZombie_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@AliZombie_<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Driven by a conviction known only to the purveyors of hard rock, Pop Evil have demonstrated that the only way is \u2018Up\u2019. The Michigan quintet take commercial success in their stride, joining the ranks of bands passionately reviving traditional confident rock \u2018n\u2019 roll infused with present day tricksy atmospherics. \u2018Up\u2019 is a lengthy statement of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[4897,4895,4896],"class_list":["post-8469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-eone-music","tag-pop-evil","tag-up"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Album Review: Pop Evil - Up - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Driven by a conviction known only to the purveyors of hard rock, Pop Evil have demonstrated that the only way is \u2018Up\u2019.The Michigan quintet take commercial\" \/>\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: Pop Evil - 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