The Nottingham newcomers Rattlesnakes are taking the UK underground by storm already, with just one single under their belts so far. That is all set to change on the 14th when they release their debut EP. We’ve gotten pretty friendly with the band in recent months and have become huge fans, so there was no way we weren’t reviewing this. Join us in checking it out!
‘Burn for You’ opens surprisingly reserved, with a simple drumbeat and clean guitar chord progression. However, it sets an ominous atmosphere right out of the bat, which I like. It almost has an air of Slayer’s ‘Seasons in the Abyss’, which is never a bad thing. It also bursts in with a huge, fast distorted riff, before Rowena’s effortlessly powerful vocals come in over the top. It instantly gives it more of a Priest/Skid Row feel, but with a modern edge. The verse and pre all build to a massive, catchy chorus, the harmonies and backing vocals making it so easy to sing along to. Having said that, though, some of her melodies in the verses, and the ‘ooo’s in the pre, are equally catchy. We get some awesome, Maiden-like guitaring in the bridge, the harmonies between the guitars and the bass being INCREDIBLE. And of course we get a sick, duelling guitar solo, too. And then a huge final chorus takes the track home in style. This is a fantastic track, and an awesome way to open the album. It easily makes it onto our playlist!
Upcoming single ‘Firestarter’ is up next and is another absolute banger. That riff to open it is incredible, especially with the bass drum following it. The pace is blinding and doesn’t let up at all, yet again harkening back to the 80s speed metal and sleaze scenes. An awesome, catchy verse leads into an even more arena-filling pre and chorus. The band are masters of writing this sound already, incredible for such a new band early in their careers, as well as being so young! Everything from the powerful vocals to the awesome riffing to the amazing drumming to the impressive shredding is all top notch. I absolutely love that we have bands doing this sort of stuff these days, especially making it still fit a modern sound and audience, as it is right up my street. Another huge highlight!
After a short interlude, ‘Love Me Harder’ explodes in with more awesome, heavy, sleazy metal riffs. It’s more expected awesomeness; great riffing and catchy, powerful vocals and melodies from Rowena and the backing vocals. I absolutely love the ‘Dissident Aggressors’ style chorus, and remember loving it live too. And the slowed down bridge with the harmonised soloing… *chef’s kiss*. It was a nice little pace and dynamic shift that does so much for the track! And heck, we even get a quick little growl at the end, that I’m already desperate to hear more of. It’s yet another awesome track on a release packed full of them!
The closing track is another predictably amazing song. I don’t know how many more times I can say it, but awesome riffing, great drumming and incredible vocals. The band really are the full package! It’s another catchy as anything chorus too, just begging to be played in front of massive festival crowds. I love the catchiness of the ‘woh’s too, that will surely go down a storm live. It’s another awesome song, even if I was running out of stuff to say about it all by this point without just openly gushing!
Overall: my god, what an AMAZING release. It’s an impressive hard rock/metal EP as it is, but the fact that it’s a debut too just pushes it up into even more impressive territory. All four songs are excellent and just as good as each other. Every single one could be a massive radio single on their own right, and I so hope this release gets the love it deserves in that regard. It honestly feels similar to that first BFMV EP, that’s how big I can see this and the band being in the future. I cannot recommend this release enough to anyone reading this, and I already want to hear even more from the band!
The Score: 9.5/10