Jan 12, 2021

OLD SELVES - 'Two Minds' (EP)

Barrelling onto the UK metal scene with their ferocious debut EP ‘Two Minds,’ the four horsemen that make up OLD SELVES take no prisoners in their targets and show no mercy in their musically militant force. Predominantly York based, vocalists and guitarists Felix Manders-Wilde and Marcus Pickles, bassist Ray Kilvington, and drummer Tom Lawrence, relinquished their teenage cover band bravado in favour of advancing their skills and using their own voices to hammer home their message.

A slow, silvery piano introduces the record in ‘Sonnet for Sorrow’ as the ye olde tune hints at medieval epics; the harsh and strained vocals similar to that of Trivium contrasts in the same way your head knows somethings going to go wrong in Game of Thrones but your heart still has ignorant hope that it doesn’t. At 1:14, bells toll as the track fades out and, if centuries of media consumption has taught us anything, it’s that looming church bells never amount to a happy ending.

Title track ‘Old Selves’ ravages with Bullet For My Valentine styled riffs as it’s weapon of choice, the chanting of “get out, just get out” and speed-strumming conjuring an immediately intense rage. Howls of “let it out” coupled with squealing guitars mirror each other in a competitive display of screams, before Lawrences’s kick drum builds up amidst a breakdown that offers only a slight moment of respite as an agonistic death growl closes the track.

Lamb of God riffs and melodies tears through ‘Population,’ scattered panning between left and right mirroring the chaos and frantic energies of politically charged and confrontational lyrical themes. Colossal bass lines act as the brawny foundation on which a Van Halen influenced tapping solo rests upon, showcasing the bands’ musical heterogeneity.

The 50 second instrumental interval ‘Lost’ displays delayed and reverberate guitar work that snaps the EP in two, before the first single ‘444’ crawls slowly in with softer vocals and skeletal verses consisting of simplistic drums and guitars. The all too familiar feeling of being “lost in the crowd with no one around” shatters amidst the screamed harmonies that take a backseat on the verses, a welcomed relief prior to the repeated “panic!” that reflects the bendy bass licks and futuristically dystopian guitar wails. “Stop, I’m trying to breathe” eerily echoes BLM events from the former half of 2020 as Old Selves have their say on the history-making protests.

The boisterous EP ends with yet another social and cultural commentary with the lyrics “sacrifice your health, pray to the wealth,” on ‘Seat in the Hall.’ A breakdown of clean guitars finishes the record on a lighter note and as the track fades out, OLD SELVES have surely made their footprint in the metalcore community and if they can bring the same energy to a live setting, will be a force to be reckoned with.