RGG February 2015 - p.22
The first thing I actually want to do here is
apologise for the fact that this review has taken
absolutely forever to see the light of day In the
last couple of months it has been a real challenge
trying to balance work as in making actual money
to live and subsequently a few projects have
fallen by the wayside However I am doing my
absolute best to try and catch up and get back up
to speed so with a bit of luck everything should be
as it should very soon
One of the aforementioned projects which got put
on the backburner was Fracture the latest EP
offering from the Black Country’s very own Liberty
Lies To cut a long story short (Very unlike me I
know) I saw the band live last year and they
absolutely blew me away so I was more than a
little excited to be given the chance to review the
new record In all honesty I’m not really sure what
I was expecting when I hit play for the first time
but without doubt this record delivers on
absolutely every level
Undivided
sets the tone for the entire record in
absolutely break neck fashion From the off the
listener is thrown straight into a whirlwind of
pounding drums and chaotic guitar riffs
reminiscent of one of my favourite bands
Alter
Bridge
It’s a great way to start things off and
shows exactly what this band are all about;
straight hard rock no fancy studio wizardry no
fuss The next track
Circles
is slightly on the lighter
side and was the lead single from the project and
by the time you get to the first spin of the chorus
is it is pretty obvious why It’s not one of those
tracks that will grab you instantly but bit by bit
and listen by listen it will get under your skin The
hook has quite a big anthemic feel to it and the
vocal from Richards dominates the track in the
best way possible
I can’t really put my finger on quite why I really
like the intro to penultimate track
Vultures
It’s
just kind of jerky; it gets your head bobbing and
has something of an old school
Papa Roach
about
it On a record full of shining moments this track
for me shines the brightest In three and a half
minutes it encapsulates exactly why I really rate
this band The guitars crunch the rhythm section
thunders and the vocal soars What the EP and this
track in particular do very well is capture the
power and the raw energy of the bands live
performances It doesn’t sound too polished the
rockiness is there for all to hear so a round of
applause for producer
Romesh Dodangoda
on that
one
The EP’s final and title track sees the band shed a
little bit of the smoothness which has been a
feature of the record up to now The main guitar
riff is more jarring but contrasts brilliantly against
a mellower section in the final third of the track
This record was never going to go out with a
whimper but the growling guitars and concussive
drums mean that it goes out with one hell of bang
For my money
Fracture
is about one real standout
and signature guitar riff/solo short of perfection
Everything is just totally on point You simply can’t
argue with the way the songs are put together the
musicianship the vocals or the production There
is something for everyone on here It might be real
early doors as far as
is concerned but I can
promise you that between now and December st
you will not hear many records better than this
LIBERTY
LIES
