Pistols At Dawn – Nocturnal Youth
Release Date: 19th July 2021
Label: Independent
Stream
Genre: Hard Rock
FFO: Godsmack, Breaking Benjamin & Shinedown.
Review By: Snidely Whiplash
Hello Snidely Whiplash fan. Yeah that’s right I’m talking to you. The one guy who does like me at all. Shaking babies. Kissing hands. Touring the nation giving you the metalepidemic.com reviews you need to find out what’s hot and what’s not. Let’s find out who ol’ Snidely has on the spit today for the roasting!
Today’s vic … uh, review is Pistols at Dawn. From the starting bell, these guys really opened it up. They hit hard and have a tight groove. From the song Crown to the end of the EP, they never let up once. If I could say anything at all about them, they need to raise those vocals a tiny little bit. On my system it was a little hard to hear those vocals. They sounded a little buried. BUT, that could be the system I was listening on. I do use the same thing for everything so I can get a consistent audio version of each band I review. It’s also the same one I produce albums on myself. The other thing I can say is that I only got four songs from them, and I wanted more. I could see me head-banging to this band in the mid afternoon while getting some lawn work done, and using it to get me through the chores. Love it.
This band is heavy for a rock band. Not death metal heavy, but bass heavy. The guitars reach up in the high registers, but still keep themselves down in the dirt for a grind that feels good. The bass and drums lead everything in this rhythm section heavy trip through the mud, without being muddy. Got to love when a band can use that bass sound to boost themselves. The only complaints that I could have for this is that the vocals are a tiny bit soft. There are a lot of vocal layers and I wonder how that’s pulled off live? Either some of those vocals are going to be left out, or they’re going to be a band that spends a lot of time looking at shoes due to being stuck on the mic. But hey, Snidely isn’t here to review your live set, is he? That’s right, just thinking out loud. Those layers are locked-in and well thought out, though.
Overall, these guys definitely fit into that Breaking Benjamin type of 2000s sound. The music is tight, the vocals are a great fit to each song. Voices has a great hook. Just like the 2000s sound, some elements are a little bit similar throughout the EP. Which is why I want more so I can see how much of a rollercoaster a whole album might take me on. Though we live in a quick, one song society, whole albums still matter unless you want to be lost in a playlist somewhere as just one band among many in my, not so humble, opinion. These songs are solid though, so check these guys out!
(4 / 5)
