Sounds Like Violence

Having recently played a handful of UK tour dates, Sounds Like Violence now release a new single in the form of ‘Heartless Wreck’, and I personally have to admit to not being in the slightest bit impressed with this latest offering. Sounding like a Swedish Placebo here vocally, Sounds Like Violence screech their way through this one and fail to ever really get going. There are moments when you feel as though this single has some real promise and is beginning to grow some balls, however ultimately it always seems to go back to being a vocally irritating and musically uninspiring track. When the band released their ‘The Pistol’ EP back in 2004 I was really quite impressed with what I heard, however somewhere in the past 3years something has obviously gone drastically wrong for them as they are now sounding dreadful as far as I’m concerned. This year saw the band release their debut album in the form of ‘With Blood On My Hands’ through Deep Elm/Burning Heart – I for one will not be rushing out to buy it. Unless you’re a fan of Placebo and feel you would enjoy hearing a slightly edgier version of them then I’d stay well clear of this one.

Label: Deep Elm/Burning Heart Records
Release Date: 11th June 2007

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When I received this CD – the label which the band are on instantly rang a bell in my head as I had heard great things about the label yet never had the opportunity to listen to any of the releases. My chance had finally come and I really didn’t know what to expect. When I first looked at the band name and saw the words ‘Sounds Like Violence’ I just thought that this band were going to be another bog standard Emo band – how wrong could I possibly be?! Sure – the band do have some deeply emotive qualities, but it is far from being the average bilge that a lot of bands of this sort are churning out. This is great music which has been stripped down to its grass roots, making way for an extremely gritty little 6 track. Whether the band are speaking softly, slapping down melodic choruses or wailing down the microphone they always manage to put a smile on your face. Everything that this band do is deeply emotive and thought provoking and just generally quality stuff.

There are some very varied sounds which come out of the band on this CD – at the flick of a switch the band go from gentle speaking to shouting at the tops of their voices and move on to a guitar breakdown. This works extremely well as it makes the band really exciting to listen to as you never know what is going to crop up next and in what pattern. This makes you listen to the music very carefully taking every little bit in and to heart which is good because you really need to be listening carefully to fully appreciate this band as a lot of the experience is hidden within the lyrics. The lyrics contain deep meaning and you can tell that the band really care about what they are singing about – its not just some cock and bull thrown together to sell a few records – this record is from the heart. This band have a serious point to get across to you the listener and boy do they manage to make it! As I said before – you really need to listen to this band carefully if you are to get the most out of the experience and it takes a few listens to really do this I found – with every listen this CD seems to grow in strength and astonishes more each time.

This is an emotive rock band at their grittiest – playing music from the heart and really putting a point across through their music. They say that music is an art form – and with this CD I think that Sounds Like Violence have proven that to be fact. I suggest you go out and buy this CD now if you have not already – and if you take a bit of convincing then just listen to the track ‘Grow/Blow’ first – this will soon make up your mind for you. This is an amazing track with strongly emotive vocals, amazing bass lines, fast and furious guitar riffs, and soft, steady and calming drum beats which really go with the flow of the music. This track really works and I guess is my favourite of the CD – the best of a brilliant bunch if you will.

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