Singles + EPs

EP Review: Walls Of Jericho

[EP: Redemption]
[Label: Trustkill/SPV]

First thing I thought when I heard that there was a new Walls Of Jericho CD was “sweet!”. I’d seen them rip it up in London a few years back and whilst I was well aware of the hype surrounding them, nothing had quite prepared me for the sheer intensity of their live performance. It’s a great shame that the issue of gender arises whenever female-fronted bands are examined, since Candace Kucsulain pretty much proves that girls can rock harder than boys at their game. Any preconceptions one might have about the effectiveness of a female vocalist, such as Candace, in heavy music go out the fucking window where they should belong. Simply put, any band as consistent as Walls Of Jericho has been deserves all the hype it’s received. So far.

Walls of Jericho’s latest release seems to be a turning point for the band. Having spent most of their career slowly, but steadily, moving up from the toilet circuits to becoming major attractions on both metal and punk package summer tours, they seem to have “matured” enough to eschew their traditionally brutal wall-of-sound in favour of a more refined acoustic/rock sound. With production duties handled by Slipknot/Stone Sour’s Corey Taylor it’s not so hard to imagine this happening. Taylor’s guest appearance on most tracks as a back-up vocalist, as well as duetting with Candace on ‘Addicted’ (easily the EP’s leading track) does not, surprisingly, dominate or detract from the band’s performance; Taylor’s vocal collaborations compliment as the familiarity of his voice adds a much-welcome warmth to Kucsulain’s leads. Their cover of ‘House of the Rising Sun’ suggests that the band has become confident enough to write and play pop songs without losing the urgency and raw power that characterises them; their rendition perfectly balances out aggression with soaring melodies.

Putting inter-subcultural politics of what Taylor’s involvement means aside, in terms of their affiliation (if at all) to scenes and their respective philosophies, the musical direction alone is as exciting as it is controversial. It really is amazing that Candace gets to show off of her vocal skills (beyond putting Jamey Jasta to shame) as the rest of the band takes a breather from the relentless drop-C chugg-o-rama. At the same time however, you can’t help but wonder how this material would fit in with everything else they’ve written. This in turn raises the question of this EP’s purpose (assuming we want to look for one); is this the precursor to a new-found musical direction or simply an opportunity to let off some steam? Thankfully the short duration of this release leaves this question unanswered; if anything else, they have proven that they are capable of pulling it off should they choose to go down this new route without risking their identity. Everything else shouldn’t matter.

For fans of: Terror, Madball, Hatebreed
Band links = Walls Of Jericho

Buy this CD!

Tags: ep, cd, walls of jericho, redemption, review, hardcore, metalcore, stone sour, slipknot

Bookmark to:

Previous & Next