By David O’Neill
I have been listening to music and collecting it for 50 years. There have been very few artists during that time have made me go “wow, what am I listening to here?” The first band was Queen on ‘Queen II’ (my god was that really 49 years ago?). It was such an original sound from ‘Father To Son’ right through to ‘Seven Seas Of Rhye’. Why am I regaling you with this anecdote? Well, Empyre are another one of those bands. From the first time I heard their first album, ‘Self Aware’, then the acoustic version of it, ‘The Other Side’, I was sold. The musicianship is superb from the two guitars of Did Coles and Henrik Steenholdt with such a variety of styles and sounds. The drums of Elliot Bale can be both subtle and gentle as well as seriously hammered. Add to this the frequent booming bass lines of Grant Hockley and you have a sound that carries you from light to dark crescendo’s to troughs and everything in between.
That is not all though, the vocal style of Henrik Steenholdt is one of the most unique in any emerging bands that i have listened to over the past six or so years that I have been writing for Über Rock. It is a gentle strong mix of David Draiman but with a gruff gritty edge to it.
There is not one track on the album that will leave you feeling disappointed (except when they end): usually there is one track (sometimes more) but the stylistic and rhythmic changes between, and regularly within, tracks is just sublime. From the opening title track ‘Relentless’ through to the final track ‘Your Whole Life Slows’, it’s an auditory orgasm of an album. Wave after wave of musical pleasures just wash between your bilateral tympanic membranes and makes them quiver in appreciation.
The first single, ‘Hit And Run’ reminds me of The Verve’s best track (and my favourite) ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’. The music is so good I’m really struggling to pick the best track but I think that ‘Forget Me’ just edges it from ‘Cry Wolf’, but on another day it could be any of the other eight tracks.
‘Silence Screaming’ has a bit of a funky rhythm but despite the superb instrumental part from all the band the gritty vocals are outstanding until you reach the breakdown and crescendo which is breathless until the acoustic outro. You would be mistaken from the first few bars of ‘Road To Nowhere’ that it was going to be a slow ballad; whilst it does slowly build to another varied guitar solo and breakdown that again displays the talent of these guys.
‘Quiet Commotion’ opens with some ethereal echoey guitar riffs, while Henrik vocals nurse the song along like a mixture of waves but the rest of the band are really not overshadowed at all. The final track, ‘Your Whole Life Slows’ is similar enough to the rest of the album that it belongs but it is also different enough to again appreciate the artistry that it is crafted from.
This is number one contender thus far for my album of the year. Roll on Steelhouse, see you there again guys!
Addendum: after mentioning ‘Queen II’, I listened to it again today for the first time in many years: did it have the same effect it originally did? Hell yes, and what’s more I could remember every lyric and nuance of each track and could even hear the early development of ‘A Night at the Opera’… and we all know what a turkey that turned out to be. If I live another 50 years, ‘Relentless’ might have the same effect…
- ‘Relentless’ is released tomorrow (Friday 31 March).
- Empyre play KK’s Steel Mill in Wolverhampton on Saturday 22 April and the Station 18 festival is Swansea on Sunday 30 April.
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