Review by Paul Monkhouse for MPM
These are incendiary times, the seething unrest of what the world has become a barely controlled element of life that threatens to explode.
Turning the clock back some fifty years, the world was in a similar place and in the feral release of punk, the youth found a way of expressing their frustration, all whilst making stands that were seen and felt all over the globe. Such is the power of music in the right hands. With the charts full of mass produced and somewhat soulless cookie cutter dance music, the rise once more of bands carrying that punk ethic has become an unmissable force, the connection to hearts and souls deep and lasting. Trio LiVES have been mainlining this pulsating force and ‘Let Them Eat Cake’ is a torrent of rock ‘n’ roll fury.
Formed by ex The Seas singer/songwriter and guitarist Peter Chisholm, the three-piece unleash this raging slab out into the world to wreak havoc and with the combo completed with brother Alex on drums and bass player Daniel Billing who drive everything along with unstoppable freight train power, it’s a hefty punch. From the moment the big-grooved rock machine of ‘Cancelled’ comes tearing out of the speakers you know it’s going to be a white-knuckle ride.
Filled with a staccato riff and dripping with sneering vitriol, this is a jolt of electricity and the ballsy, artfully melodic and anthemic ‘Come Together’ that follows is a rallying cry that could tear down governments.
The driving rocker ‘Is This What You Want’ thrills and ‘What A Way’ sounds like something that Oasis could come up with if they had more balls and less of a Beatles fixation. Lyrically there’s fighting talk aplenty, the snotty yet poetic title track exemplifying this perfectly as Chisholm spits out the lines “I am a liar, I am a philanthropist. I come in a limo, you’re leaving in an ambulance”.
With the adrenaline soaked ‘Already Dead’ giving way to the show stopping ‘Hope and Freedom’ the craft of the outfit is there for all to see, the latter’s move from stripped back and raw to a blues gloss to finish a bold and brave artistic switch that sticks two fingers up to anyone who thinks they’d figured the band out.
Throwing in the radio edit of ‘Cancelled’ as a bonus number, this eight track collection is a blast of arctic ice wind to the senses, breaking through the haze and shocking the senses into action.
Magnificent and without any compromise, LiVES have something to say and they’re going to say it loud.
Presale Link https://lnk.to/iO3XNb/