Album Review: Lonely The Brave – This Day’s War
2 min read
Lonely the Brave have all the ingredients that make up a successful post-hardcore band. Two fiery guitar players, Mark Trotter and Ross Smithwick, complimented by the deafening drum patterns of Gavin Edgeley and vocalist David Jakes – whose voice is capable of smothering all the raucous harmony noises, without sounding too harsh.
For this reason, the Cambridge based band’s debut album The Day’s War will inevitably gather together a dedicated fan base for the band. The eerie reverberating twangs of electric guitars that open the album in Intro suggest the albums potential to explore a more intriguing side to the bands capacity to produce highly conventional, energetic cacophonies of hard-rock sounds. However, listeners hoping for any such innovation are let down.
The album is predominately an ode to classic hard rock. Songs are dominated by the fast paced growls of sweeping guitar chord progressions, carried by the throbs of a bass drum. What keeps each song exciting is the subtle changes in energy levels between verse, chorus and bridge brought about by the guitar harmonies. Songs are a roller-coaster ride of energy, which builds up – reaches a momentous climax of pure adrenaline before fizzling out towards the end.
Songs like Island and Black Saucers open with an explosive guitar solos that injects the opening verses of the song with such energy. A tempo change between verse and a slower paced chorus concentrates this energy to produce an almost majestic, hopeful sound – perfect to lock yourself in your room and jump around do after a horrible day in the real world. Trick of the Light does the opposite – opening instead with a subdued verse, where the edgy grumbles of the guitars, supressed by the oaky vocals of Jakes. The change in harmony between chorus and verse unleashes a fresh energy on the song, which while sounding like any generic rock song will nevertheless get you hyped up.
The album is peppered with mellowed instrumental lullabies which are way too short. These hint at the bands potential to explore new sounds which will hopefully be realised in whatever they do next. The mysterious murmurs of a guitar in Untitled evoke a tantilising mystique which is ended way too abruptly. The songs Outro works in a similar manner. The album’s title track The Day’s War is also surprisingly calm – opening with a quaint acoustic guitar harmony completely different from anything heard throughout the rest of the album, complimented by the brooding vocals of Jakes. This refreshing break from the resounding drones of electric guitar also hints at the Lonely the Brave’s potential for a broader variety of sound in the future.
For a debut album, Lonely the Brave have released a satisfying track list for any fan on the genre that is definitely worth a listen. The safe conventionality of their album aside, these have been praised for their potential all around the world – hopefully their growing fan-base will follow a growing variety of sound.
