Sounds like…

Huge emo rock crossed with grunge elements.

The review

Whilst I’m a new convert to the Drug Church pulpit, I feel like I’ve joined at a great time. The five-piece rock band have released ‘Tawny’ as a bridge EP between their 2018 album ‘Cheer’ and their forthcoming album. That means you get to experience what has come before and what is to come. I think it takes the best elements of grunge riff structure and amplifies it into a hardcore chugging explosion of rock.

To best explain how I’ve come to this conclusion, I want to go back to Nirvana from the ’90s as an easy and simple starter back for grunge listeners. Their riffs and melodies were relatively simple and revolved around power chords or catchy motifs, then surged with guitar noise. Drug Church do this too but instead of boosting it with pure noise, the riffs are often concentrated into a guitar chug. By guitar chug I mean the aggressive vroom you get from big emo acts or hardcore punk rockers. It brings all that catchy hook greatness into a sound you’d expect more from Green Day or My Chemical Romance. The vocal style helps this too.

Each track on ‘Tawny’ is different too. The title track is my favourite as it is exactly where punk and grunge collide perfectly. ‘Head-Off’ is a spinning top of chaotic guitars and vocals like a heavy and aggressive rockier The Cure. ‘Bliss Out’ is hook riddled with aggressive screaming vocals. Over the two minutes, the guitars bleed out from being crisp chugs to writhing rivers of power. It is exceptionally moreish. ‘Remember To Forget’ brings in a little dark gothic shoegaze to Drug Church too. There is a hint of 1980’s pop-rock in the verses but the choruses and hooks are wild.

As a starter point, this is a great intro to Drug Church. Although two of the tracks are available separately as singles, I’ve chosen to start my purchases here and I’ll be working my way backwards before their new album comes out at the end of 2021. Anyone who needs to have their veins pumping with high velocity rock should include Drug Church in their musical fix. I’m hooked.

Recommended track: Tawny

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