Band: Backhand Saloon
Release: Crooks & Curses (EP)
Release Date: Out Now
Before you even wrap your ears around ‘Crooks & Curses’, the mere title brings about suspicions of genre placement and predictions of the sound. Yep, it’s aggressive, quite heavy and direct. It’s hardcore or ‘dirty Southern hardcore’ as the band themselves like to brand it. Exeter’s Backhand Saloon have delivered a punchy collection of angst-ridden riffs with raw vocals and raging beats.
‘Brinks Mat’ sees vocalist Harry May question “is this the fear?” over the rip-roaring instruments that extravagantly parade in the background. A faster pace is adopted in ‘Tempest’ in a mighty ambush of sound; the thrashing guitars chase the screams. ‘Curses’ signals a quieter opening with the intricate plucks: those poor nimble strings aren’t going to know what’s hit them later in the EP! It may be the weakest track out of the four, but in a live setting it would warm up the crowd quite nicely. The same noise quality is apparent in ‘Disaster Is My Name’, though feels a bit disjointed at moments. The backing and vocals don’t gel as well as they do in previous tracks.
For a debut, it gives enough hope for the potential of Backhand Saloon. With a good polishing and a refining of their sometimes over-ambitious sound, the boys could go a lot further.
7.5/10
Reviewer: Hayley Fox
