Suddyn "Dark Lights"

There is a confession to be made before I go on with review: with this EP, I have found myself in the midst of an unknown territory - Anthemic rock.
Generally whenever I listen to any guitar based music, it tends to be along the lines punk, post-punk/new wave, 60's garage - you get the idea - however beyond a smidgen of Muse (and maybe the Killer's debut album), anthemic rock is a bit of a desert land.

Thus, here lies Suddyn with their new EP, Dark Lights of which I was rather kindly given tracks one and two, "Holding Up the Backdrop" and "Generations", to listen in the privacy of my own squaller and upon first listen to "Holding...", it is quite apparent that Suddyn's sound is big. If the band were food, they would be a massive beef-steak with potatoes and gravy. It's been noted on previous occasions that Suddyn would slot in rather neatly with the likes of the Foo Fighters and the Killers and those kinds of comparisons are quite apt and would be perfect support should they ever descend upon these shores again (you know damn well they will).

The EP falls away somewhat with the second track, "Generations". Following on from a meaty opener, this second track sounds quite limp and suffers from some seriously weak mixing and mastering. Rather than letting the levels flow neatly across the EP, the vocals on "Generations" are far too high in the mix and it seems as if a poorly rendered compressor has been layered over the master - the moment the vocals retreat, the instrumentation booms back at the listener in the most unpleasant of ways. My only other quibble would be the backing vocals; with the layers of "ohh-eyy" coming across as slightly cringe worthy as opposed to emotional.
As I stated at the beginning it's not a genre that I'm overly familiar with, but it's an interesting introduction all the same and with regards to musical styles, Suddyn are not going to change the world, but regardless of that Dark Lights is a fine effort all the same.
Rating: 3 out of 5

Current listening:
Boom Bip "Corymb"


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