Fancy listening to one of the UK’s best up-and-coming metal bands, all the while having their newest single stuck in your head for days on end? Well, you shouldn’t have clicked the link if you didn’t. Today’s Band of the Day is Of Allies, a hard-rocking metal quartet based in Yorkshire, who have recently released their newest single “Collapse” from their first full-length album Night Sky. The single is indicative of the album from which it has been taken; full of harmonious riffs and vocals which are easy on the ear, but carrying enough edge through its music to really pack a punch.
Opening on an angry-sounding, crunchy guitar riff, these boys certainly know how to make an entrance. The riff itself acts as a battering ram; forcing its way into your ears and demanding to be heard. The riff repeats itself throughout the choruses of the track, essentially acting as a reminder to the listener to continue paying attention, as such a weighty riff does not go unnoticed.
Countering the traditionally heavy sound of the guitar work are the vocals, which manage to easily carry over the rest of the band. It can be easy for a contemporary metal band to go the tried and tested route of ‘clean singing in the verse, screams in the chorus’. However, Of Allies have defiantly turned against the tide in this instance. “Collapse” sees a fully clean style of vocals, one which carries enough of a gruff attitude to match the rest of the band, which appeals to veteran metalheads, yet still acts as being accessible and open for casual listeners just entering the rock scene.
“Collapse” is, without a doubt, an absolute animal of a single. Of Allies have managed to create a rock-sound which appears as being raw and almost untamed, yet have matched it seamlessly with a vocal element which is almost mathematical in its accuracy. Such a connection should not work, and in many cases and for many bands, it has not. There is always an exception however, and Of Allies seems to be the exception in this case; bringing about the greatness of the dirty, messy side of heavy metal and throwing it together with the pinpoint accuracy of the clean vocals from the contemporary rock scene.
Of Allies are not only a band which you should check out as soon as you can, but one to watch, as you will most likely be hearing a lot about these Yorkshire boys over the next few years.
Night Sky is out now and available to buy here.
Of Allies: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | youtube
