Nick Laidlaw plays guitar for Highland band Seed Of Sorrow who we have featured before, albeit eight years ago! This year he’s back, rebranded himself a little as NIK, and embarked on a solo side project. The album, Stasis, is out on July 16th and will be available across all the usual digital platforms.
NIK himself says it falls into the metalcore genre with elements of thrash and groove. Vocally there’s a lot of death stylings and the haunting melodies in most tracks show a bit of black metal influence as well. It’s quite eclectic, flowing easily from the heavier end of the spectrum to the more melodic. As far as I’m aware, the entire thing is NIK’s work, so he’s covering all the instruments as well as clean and harsh vocals so he’s often singing with himself, such as the back and forth within “No Control” or the clean harmonies behind the harsh vocals in “Collide”.
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The rhythms are chunky, and the lead guitars clean and frenetic. Tracks come fast and furious like “Rat Rumble” and more gently paced, such as “The Graft”. There is a good range on here, and Nick brings in a lot of styles and influences, which is the album’s strength. Perhaps it’s a benefit of a solo project in that you don’t have to focus too much on a middle ground where each member agrees – creativity can roam free.
I also continue to be amazed at the quality of output that small bands / projects can manage and Stasis is no exception. The production is superb, with each sound and tone clearly audible. No bells and whistles, just everything that’s needed to get your ears pounding and head banging.
Stasis is a hugely enjoyable cross-genre effort.
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Stasis is out on July 16th
Check out all the bands we review in 2021 on our Spotify and YouTube playlists!
