Holy State- Holy State EP

It's been a while- I like to blame exams and sleep! This is my review of Holy State's self-titled EP. It's released on July 12th :)

Citing their influences as Jesus Lizard and The Fall among others, Holy State have set themselves up for success. Having already appeared on Huw Stephen’s ‘Music Sounds Better with Huw-Volume 1,’ and opened up the Dance to the Radio stage at the Leeds Festival last year, they’ve already marked their territory as one of the ‘bands-to-watch.’ This self-titled EP is their first to be released properly, and is being released through Dance to the Radio.
Opener ‘Brain Caves’ forces you to immediately sit up and listen, beginning with a trumpet and incessantly catchy drumbeat. Ditching conventional repetitive beats, this opening number is heavy-hitting, and shows how Holy State are pushing against the norm. This is especially evident when you reach the chorus, as the offering becomes particularly severe- but not in a way that is detrimental to their vocals. Move on to ‘The Beaus and the Oglers,’ and their true potential is unleashed. Although being a shorter track, everything seems to work together to produce another heavy-hitting number, which includes a short interluding instrumental in the midst of the track. It brings us up to speed with their talent-of-plenty, before we move onto a slower and perhaps calmer song. ‘Skull on Skull’ is perhaps the break in the action that is needed here, and it’s one which is received gratefully, as they prove that they can provide variety in their music. Finishing on ‘Palms,’ you can immediately see that this will be a crowd-pleaser. Among the clapping-beat of the drums, which becomes more complex as the track progresses, there is an energy that seems the live-scene like a glove.
Holy State have found their rhythm, as they step out of the box and give us something unexpected in today’s music scene.


4/5

Published! http://www.rocklouder.co.uk/albums/article/holy-state-holy-state-ep