When you’re about to play Bloodstock, it’s often (I would guess) easy to forget about other priorities but Far From History will instead be using the festival appearance to push their forthcoming EP. Gallows Hill comes out on August 19th, shortly after their New Blood set and on the strength of the new songs it’s going to be a hell of a thirty minutes.
Far From History have ramped up the heavy for this new release – something you’d think difficult for a post hardcore group to achieve, given that the whole essence of the genre is thumping bass and huge drops. Still… they’ve done it. And not by sacrificing their melodic edge either.
From a cool drum-led intro to two-minute mark where the gates of Hell open up to swallow you, “Blueneck” is a super opener. In the opening couple of minutes, you have the band in a nutshell. Opposing vocal styles, brain mashing drums, driving rhythms and a catchy chorus. “Rupture Farms” continues the theme with a finger-tapped distorted guitar into which is quickly overlaid with eerie atmospheric tones. Overall this is the evil darkness to “Blueneck”‘s brighter fare. This isn’t just a heavy track for FFH, it’s a particularly crushing number from a post hardcore act.
Best headbanger plaudit on the EP, though, goes to “Going Under” which I rank as the top track of the half dozen. It isn’t as heavy as the others, but I think it shows the band’s variety off the most effectively and had an intro that just reels you in. Some nice rhythm changes keep you on your toes and the clean vocals aren’t overused.
A close runner-up is “Shockwave Asylum” which has a simply brilliant opening with shades of Slipknot. The whole track manages to be even heavier than “Rupture Farms” which is no mean feat, either.
“Swallowing Broken Glass” didn’t grab me on the first couple of listens for some reason, but final track “A Negative” definitely did. Again, another sidestep with some changes in sound and a little bit of experimentation results in a track unlike any of the others on Gallows Hill. Strident guitars wail like sirens around the halfway point, followed by a soulful melodic solo – the whole thing backed by the pounding drums and bass. As a bonus you also get an appearance from Chad Ruhlig of For the Fallen Dreams. Truly a track that leaves you wanting more… or at the very least to wind back to track one and go through it all again.
If you’re not at Bloodstock to catch the band throwing a few of these songs around, then they’re on tour in September with A Room Swept White. The first draft of dates is below, more to be added.
- 7th Sept – Cardiff – Fuel Bar
- 8th Sept – Birmingham – Subside
- 9th Sept – Kings Lynn – Workers Club
- 10th Sept- Workington – Lounge 41
- 11th Sept – TBC – Get in touch
Far From History: facebook | bandcamp
