Source: EP Artwork
Although Brawlers only popped their heads up out of Leeds about three years ago, they’ve already put out one full-length album and another EP, and are steadily showing some real promise. The Black EP is their third release in those three years.
Brawlers channel the sound of a lot of bands spanning a multitude of genres. Fans of You Me At Six, older We Are The Ocean and Max Raptor will find a lot of points that they can relate to across the whole EP. The vocals and lyrics are polished and modern enough, and the instrumental lines happy and major-chord-based enough for the general feeling to be upbeat and occasionally pop-leaning, but the guitars and drums have a rawness to the production and an energy to the execution that this is more reminiscent of Take This To Your Grave era Fall Out Boy than American Beauty/American Psycho.
The Black EP has an unmistakable feeling of modernity to it. Songs like ‘Growing Up‘ and ‘Better Looking‘ sound like they could only have come from this specific time. The chord progressions and riff styles of the guitars, though somewhat generic-sounding, sound like they have been written now, in 2016. The lyrics to songs like ‘Day Job‘ and ‘Growing Up‘ have an ultra-modern slant to them that sets Brawlers apart, for better or for worse in equal measure.
Brawlers still have a way to go before they are the finished article. Judging from a lot of the ideas and musical sensibilities demonstrated on The Black EP suggests that in the future they will become a bit more of a polished rock band, though it is entirely possible that their slightly more punk side could shine through, they find a bit more grit to put into the vocals and they go more down the route of Gnarwolves than We Are The Ocean.
Will they get as big as any of the bands that they are categorised with? It’s hard to say, but judging purely off of The Black EP they are inoffensive and pop-leaning enough for many of the less hardcore rock fans to be more than attracted to them.
