BordBand: Borderline: FIRE
Release: This Trojan State
Release Date: Out now
When you think of Reading, the first thing that probably jumps to mind is the incredible festival that’s become eponymous with the city. Scale things down a little though and the town has more than enough of a music scene to show off without the help of Festival Republic, seeing bands such as Borderline:FIRE come out of the woodwork with a rock EP like ‘This Trojan State’.
For those who like their music with the ferocity and electronics of Enter Shikari but with the rockier sound of bands such as Heaven’s Basement, Borderline:FIRE will quickly become a new favourite. That being said, if you prefer your bands with a little more of their own sound and with a bit more of a wow factor, Borderline:FIRE will probably become nothing more than a skip-worthy tune on shuffle.
EP opener ‘Mark Up’ kicks off with some abrupt synths that quickly merge in to some slightly underwhelming guitars. Combined with the generic vocals of lead singer Jamie Boshier, it’s not going to achieve the mainstream success of some of their peers but, for small venues and loud speakers in bedrooms, it’s a decent enough rock song.
‘Chains’ comes across a whole lot better, wholly embracing the rockier side of the genre spectrum while using synth sounds to enhance the song rather than chucking them in for no reason. With a sing-a-long, anthemic chorus, it’s the best track on the EP by leaps and bounds. Contrastingly, with a brooding verse turning into an 80s rock ballad, ‘Nikki’ verges a little too hesitantly on the line between cool and just plain old boring.
‘Trojan’ ticks just about all the boxes on the emotional song checklist but, once again, there’s nothing here to write home about. By this point, only four tracks into a six track EP, the urge to stick on just about anything else is getting a little overwhelming.
Okay, sorry, that was a little bit too harsh. In an alternative music industry that is currently dominated by You Me At Six bands or, well, Bring Me The Horizon and co. Borderline:FIRE are actually bringing something that has disappeared for a while back from its lonely new home stuck in small pubs, played by terrible cover bands: rock music.
‘Speak For Me’ will satisfy any rock fan’s urge for a cheeky head bang but things all change again when ‘Brainwash’ comes along. Starting with deep bass and eager electronics, it doesn’t end up the song you’d first expect it to be, jumping between slow and trudging and upbeat and exciting.
Ending with some group shouting and another dabble in to the world of sound effects, it seems as though Borderline:FIRE still aren’t sure where they are going with this sound of theirs or who they are meant to be. Sure, fitting into genre boxes isn’t always a good thing, but some sort of consistency or, more importantly, at least a little excitement, just isn’t found on this EP.
4/10
Review by: Kathryn Black
