The New Breed EP Review

The New Breed

Earlier this year I did an interview with Tom McKay, one of The New Breed’s guitar players, about their upcoming self titled, debut EP called ”The New Breed”.

Now, the EP is released and the result is five rocking tracks.

This music is made to be heard live. Think of a dark, smoke filled rock club in the mid seventies, with high volume and packed with rockers in the crowd. You would expect to see Ritchie Blackmore pass you by on his way to the stage or the bar... The New Breed’s music is probably at it’s best heard live like this. It’s typical 70s rock and what first comes to mind is Deep Purple with tempo mixes going thru the songs, that was typical for that era. This is what The New Breed play, classic 70s rock, just like they did back then, for example take the cowbell and gritty guitars in ”Heartbreaker”. Nice touch! 

I like the intro in ”Black Seas, High Tides” and how the song pick up speed at the end. Its a good song to sum up The New Breed’s self titled, debut EP with.

I’m looking forward to hear their next album and would love to see them go on tour. My favorite songs on this EP is ”Lie To Me” and ”Soul Train”, give this EP a listen.

Songs on ”The New Breed” EP:

1  Soul Train (No Easy Way Out)

2  Lie To Me

3  Get Some

4  Heartbreaker           

5  Black Seas, High Tides

☠☠☠☠ / 5

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You can get ”The New Breed” EP on iTunes and check out the songs in the mini-player below. For more on The New Breed, you can head over to their FaceBook page and don’t forget that you can see videos and clips on their YouTube Channel.

The Van Desh New EP Review

The Van Desh New EP "Change"

The Van Desh is a band from Norrtälje, Stockholm, Sweden.

Their first album ”It Reminds Me” had a sound where they had picked out the best parts of the 70s. That album was so good, so the expectations for their upcoming EP was big. Often when a band makes an album that is good, it’ s hard to live up to the expectations for the next album and it often falls flat. The Van Desh have on their EP ”Change” lived up to the expectations and delivered an EP just as good as the first album. They might even have raised the bar. It seems like a weight has lifted of the bands shoulders and their is more joy in their music on this EP than on ”It Reminds Me”, that had a darker feeling. 

While making this EP, The Van Desh’s guitarist left the band and they are now introducing Niklas Klaar as the new guitarist in the band.

What I think is good with The Van Desh’s music is that they have the ability to make real music without any add-ons or special sound effects. A key to their unique sound is that they continue to keep the essence of the good 70s music, but make it modern.   

This is a band that plays music as it’s supposed to be, rock that goes back to the basic rock roots. It’s downscaled, simplified and a purer sound than todays music.

When listening to this great EP, I noticed that The Van Desh haven’t filled out their songs with any  ”yeahs” or extra guitar solos, neither do they repeat themselves in the lyrics. The lyrics speaks and says something to you as a listener, it’s not just a catchy chorus.

The first song, ”Change” has a promising intro that makes you wan’t to hear more.

I also think it’s nice to hear a singer that can sing in different tones, without having a high pitch tone/scream like it’s 1985 again. The tone in The Van Desh’s music works with and matches Tommy’s voice perfectly, which makes it all sound cohesive.

You can hear the influences of the 70s, but as I said it’s modern and fresh music. For instance, listen to the organ in the end of ”Don’t Quit”, a nice touch to the song. 

”If I can say one word to describe The Van Desh’s music, it would be quality”, declared a friend of mine when I played the song ”Blackbird”. Quality meaning, this music is worked thru and the lyrics has a meaning. 

The last song on the EP, ”By the Light” just raises the question, when is the next The Van Desh full length album coming? This song should be a radio hit this summer.

Songs on the ”Change” EP: 

1 ”Change”

2 ”Don’t Quit”

3 ”Blackbird”

4 ”By the Light”

☠☠☠☠☠ /5

If you like more serious, melodious, 70s rock music, you’ll definitely like this EP. 

I hope more people will discover this band. They keep it very real and dosen’t depend their music career on cheap unnecessary rock n’ roll clichés that takes the focus of the music. 
My favorite song on this EP is ”Don’t quit.”

You can listen to the EP ”Change” from the mini-player below and download it on Bandcamp and check out The Van Desh’s website for more news. ”Change” will also be available on iTunes the 2th of May.