VENUES – “My True North”
First things first – VENUES is the new name of Stuttgart’s post hardcore act Break Down A Venue.
After this EP you wanna hear more!
A soft guitar leads us into “My True North” – the title supposes a cold and thoughtful EP and, yes, VENUES created melancholic songs. But the songs have power! They blast out of the speakers, mercilessly. Speaking about power: I read a lot of comments saying Nyve‘s vocals are to weak. It’s true that she doesn’t have the kind of power in her voice that we know from several other singers. But I think, it’s an advantage. It’s a great contrast to the heavy and powerful guitars, bass and growls.
Nyve has a lot of emotion in her voice which sometimes sounds like it would crackle in a moment – but it doens’t. The soft tunes enhance the sad vocals in ‘An Epilogue’ and the other songs of the EP. They transport the message perfectly – combined with the anger one might feel in the same situation, embodied by the growls. The story is about a broken relationship reminding me of SONIC SYNDICATE’s ‘Psychic suicide’.
Rollercoaster of emotions.
As I said, the topics on ‘My True North’ are serious ones. The listener is confronted by a lot of different emotions, but all songs seem to tell a story in retrospect. Despair, anger, sadness and the kind of relief you feel after something came to an end. ‘Shades Of Memory’ is the strongest song of this kind. The other five songs on the EP are touching, too. The melodies are catchy and it’s hard to get VENUES out of your head for days.
So if you like powerful melancholic music and are not afraid of modern metal/metalcore/hardcore, you should definetly check out VENUES! Especially when you like bands like DEADLOCK. Strong guitars combined with powerful rhythms and two singers that are emotional in very different ways.
VENUES – “My True North” Tracklist
1. My true north
2. An epilogue
3. Shades of memory
4. Guilty crown
5. Fragments
6. Pathway
What do you think about Nyve? Are the vocals to weak or fitting perfectly? Leave us a comment and share this review!