I've been waiting for Crushed By Waves' first album to drop for some time now, and today's the day.
First impressions are that the artwork is fucking immense. I mean, it's actually beautiful. So beautiful in fact, that I want some adaptation of it inked on my body. Honestly, I like it that much.
Opening the gatefold CD case, you're greeted once more by the phoenix, rising from the flames. Did I mention that I love the artwork?
So, first play through. This album is absolute quality.
The jangly opening bars of 'Nothing Left' give way to the rawness and emotion of the voice of lead vocalist Arran Prime.
From this, we launch straight into my favourite track of the album, 'Dangerous'. The drumming on this track by Tom West is incredible. Heavy riffs from guitarists Andy Hoskinson and Dan Collict intertwine perfectly with clean and dirty screams from Arran.
The single 'You Know' follows. This track sums up the direction Crushed By Waves have gone in the last 12 months. This is a catchy rocky banger. The video is well worth checking out on YouTube as well!
'Optimistic' follows in a similar vein, heavy riffs from Andy and Dan, Tom beating the shit out of his kit and Arran demonstrating his vocal ability perfectly.
'Won't Get Out Alive' will be familiar to anyone who has had the pleasure of listening to this band previously. It's almost anthemic in stature, and has been a major part of the bands live sets for some time now. This track is the one that made me fall in love with this band. It ticks all the boxes for me.
Title track 'More To Life' opens with a lovely synth and electronica style, before the heavy riffs join over the top of it. The vocal in the verses range from sweetly clean to semi-dirty. This is another great track, and I can't wait to see it performed live later this year.
'Faces' is face-meltingly fast and heavy. That's all I can say. It's a really good track, and I can't wait to mosh and headbang until my neck falls off to the live version of this.
The album closes strongly with 'Lies' followed by 'Close To The Edge'.
This album seems like a real labour of love for the band. There genuinely isn't a bad track on it. It'll be on heavy rotation in this Welshman's playlists for a long, long time. This band are going places, having played the Takeover stage at Download Festival in 2023 and having tracks played on BBC Radio 1 Introducing programming.
All of this is made even sweeter by the fact that these four lads are just fucking lovely.
Crushed By Waves head out on their first ever headline tour this May. Check out www.crushedbywaves.com for more details.
Rich Holmes.
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