Review: Stand Alone – Stand Alone EP

Stand Alone - Stand AloneA short review for a small collection of songs, but mainly as I wanted to make people aware of its existence and don’t have much time!

Stand Alone are London-based and released their self-titled debut EP at the end of last year. They’re a hardcore act, but of the modern take on the genre. That is, expect a bit of melody and harmonics rather than just the full-on brutality of the NYHC side of things.

Your pennies get you six tracks of very good quality. There’s a nice blend of hard-hitting anger and twin vocals to temper the ferocity. The average age of the band is apparently around thirty so they’ve not just been exposed to the more recent post-hardcore movement, but the original sound as well and this comes across in their music.

While too many band these days are going simply for the full-on scream and shout approach, Stand Alone have toned this down and added just the right amount of lighter tones to hook in those who perhaps don’t like things so heavy.

It works to varying degrees across the songs on offer; very well on some and passably on others. To name the weakest track first off, “Strike and Old Pose” I found a little flat but this may just have been in contract to the more upbeat feel of most of the other songs. It also sounds a little experimental with quite a lot of sounds in there, even a little “prog” in terms of clashing tempos and the like.

The same can’t be said of “No Resurrections” or “Short Sighted” which I really enjoyed. “A Thousand Fathers” has a great intro, mixing harsh vocals with clean guitars – an interesting contrast. Closer “Lumberjacked” has the kind of chorus that will go down well live and a final third which should appeal to so many people – “We are forsaken, we are the lost generation”.

Given that parts of the songs are quite light and, indeed, bouncy it’s surprising to realise these hooks are coupled with lyrics which are far darker and tend to stick within the usual post-hardcore realms of “grief, abandonment, political agendas, social norms” (from the press release). As with many artists, the band seems to act as an outlet for its members.

You can check out “Short Sighted” below and further details on the band can be found via the following links. The EP can be purchased via Bandcamp on a “name your own price” basis.

Stand Alone: facebook | bandcamp

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