EMERALD SUNDAY - Forbidden Sun (Promo) CD-EP

A really excellent three-tracker and that's a fact – they not only write big songs with big choruses, they have a fantastic sense of dynamics and how to build a song, not to mention a great vocalist and three corking tracks. The title track opens with gentle acoustic guitar as a vocal full of emotion immediately brings you into their world, while almost as soon as the vocal's begun, the drums crunch in alongside deep bass as the song bounces forward with substance and authority. The verses are sung in a nasally impassioned manner that really grabs your heart as the verses flow into uplifting hooks with crispness and texture. Then, with no warning, the track takes off as this huge burst of roaring guitar riffing suddenly jerks you out of the moment and takes the song into a fast-paced mid-section instrumental bridge only then for it to disappear as suddenly as it began, an arrangement of such dynamic quality that it works just fine. As the band move into another hook, the guitars reappear, the pace accelerates once more, only this time it opens out into a fierce heat lead guitar break before finally dropping back to earth, the electric guitar a perfect counterpoint to the crispness of the acoustic, as the rhythm section flows underneath and the song fades away, leaving you realising that this band can really arrange with dyanmics, sing with emotion and compose with quality. “Can't You See We're Falling” really lifts the roof off right from the start as this anthem of a track features more superby dyanmics, this time a mix of cascading guitar chords over choppy drums and deep bass as the moody verses roar into life-saving choruses that are absolutely huge, the whole thing sung to perfection by a strong-voiced singer who really knows how to deliver a song. Once again, there's a mid-song instrumental section as the guitar heats up a searing lead, then the whole electrifying band coalesce into the ever rising emotion of the song's hooks and choruses. After this, it drops down to chug to a delicate instrumental finale, short but perfectly formed. Finally, there's “Summer Satellite” opens with ringing electric guitar chords before percussion adds bite and the vocals add strength as the rhythm section crunches in a a song which mixes stomping rhythms, soaring musical heights, intense emotion and heated playing, all delivered at a seriously solid mid-pace, lights up your life and is this high-flying anthem of mighty proportions with hook and chorus unfurled for all to witness against the electric backdrop. All in all, if this is a demo, the prospect of a “proper” recording is to be greeted with high anticipation, for this is a band who write some crackingly great songs and play them every bit as well as you'd hope, a singer with an identity and a sense of dynamics that's electrifying.
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