Amongst
the Arrows |
Swaying guitars with a darkened twist introduce you to Glasgow’s Amongst the Arrows. It’s an impressive aural display of rock and it certainly makes you take notice immediately.
‘The Moon Loves No One’ is responsible and it’s a powerfully epic song that knits tightly together many different styles – both quiet and loud variants - and delicately gentle vocals which remain dynamic and effective throughout. There are hints of many influences right here in just this first song, but it’s the quiet to loud transitions that stand out as something that a band like My Vitriol would be proud of. This is not the only focal point, however, as the band impress there own style very well, and their use of harmonized vocals is both striking and justified throughout.
‘Green Grass of What’ follows and is much more subtle than the former. It shows a softer side to the band, however, they still continue to demonstrate vast outbursts of raw power. At times you can feel the guitars ready to explode into action as you hold your breath and the tension builds, but then it is all tamed once more by the gentleness of the verse with its soft vocals and simplistic guitar riff.
Then with the opening bars of ‘Something Shall Proceed’ I finally found something I could make a negative comment about. You see, it became apparent that all three tracks share a relatively similar formula for intros, with quiet guitar-picking leading into the songs. I shall not linger on this for too long, as after all, this is only three songs from a band and it may be the case that not one of their other songs may have a guitar-picked intro.
Anyway, with the quiet and loud style still openly on display ‘Something Shall Proceed’ has a harder edge, and when the band really goes for it as they do here, they produce a manic display of loud rock that is certainly a fitting end to such a strong CD. Great things could come from this band so they are certainly one to watch.
Ian Robinson
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