If you like you rock being fierce, full of riffs but with technical flair Strauss are definitely for you.
Album Type: EP
Date released: 26/05/2015
Label: Unsigned
‘Luia’ CD/DD track listing:
1). Mud at You
2). Humanphobic (to Mary Shelley)
3). For all the wrong reasons
4). Eclipse
5). 2015
Strauss is:
Stef Sacchetto | Vocals
Charles | Guitar
Nando | Guitar
Bill | Bass
Doc | Drums
Review:
These London
‘Mud at You’ bounces along like Clutch on speed. Riffs smash into your body from the start. Drums make your heart miss a beat while the vocals twist your eardrums into knots. It surely made me sit up and listen. ‘Humanphobic’ has a Tech Metal structure with a Rush influence. The riffs are crushing again, slow/fast tempo’s and vocals sang with power and vocation gives you an emotional ride through this track. Six and half minutes of awesomeness! ‘For all the Wrong Reasons’. A quiet intro leads you into a false sense of security, riffs and thundering drums come to the fore again, making your face feel like it is being pummelled by 10G’s. Harrowing vocals wrap themselves around the song giving you a feeling of hopelessness.
Now to 7 minutes of pure excellence with ‘Eclipse’. A slow throbbing riff leads you into a track of technical excellence. Harrowing vocals take you to the depths of hell where you are trying to survive from being taken back and forth from the living. Where am I? I want to live! The track takes you to a dark place and definitely screws with your mind. The final feeling is that the sun is dying and the end of the human race is here. Absorbing this into my psyche was an absolutely awesome experience. ‘2015’ closes the EP with a funky bass line leading to crushing riffs, thundering drums and powerful vocals but this time all built around a more commercial sound structure. Don’t worry a wall of noise arrives to end the EP.
Having formed in 2011 and with various line-up changes along the way, I do hope these guys stick together as they have produced something special. Whether the diversity of their nationalities have helped to come up with this metal, sludge, stoner sounding EP I don’t know but it can only have helped as the music testifies. It’s raw but technical at the same time. The song structures have been produced by a band at the top of their game which knocks the socks off some of the new tech-metal, riff-rock breed out there. It took me a few listens to get it but when the penny dropped I was totally absorbed. If you like you rock being fierce, full of riffs but with technical flair Strauss are definitely for you.
Words by: Brian Mclean
‘Luia’ is available here
For more information:
Listen: http://straussband.bandcamp.com/
Follow: https://twitter.com/straussband
