False-Heads and Osmium Guillotine EP Reviews

They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. When applied to unsigned rock and metal music, this statement could easily be mistaken as a crude attempt to rip-off your idols, instead of re-imagining their work. But just how far can you allow yourself to be influenced by a popular band or artist before you get labelled as rip-off merchants? This past week I’ve been listening to False-Heads and Osmium Guillotine, two bands whose influences shine through in their own original songs. But are they merely lacking inspiration of their own? And can their EPs be seen as anything other than tributes to those that they admire?

False-Heads are a gloom-embracing three-piece who fly in the face of current unsigned trends, keeping recordings stripped back and lo-fi, with squealing guitars and mumblecore vocals. The band’s debut EP ‘Animation Draining Needles’ (a name they may or may not have known would yield Google results such as ‘How to Lance a Boil’) has a raw honesty that few young bands are able to express on record, and while the tracks may lack polish and precision, they buzz with an unpredictability that can only be born out of playing from the heart.

The art rock tone and resonance of early grunge icons Sonic Youth catches the ear on Guards Of The Stairs, while the chunky bass line and distorted guitars of Without A Doubt scream allegiance to the Kings of Seattle. A cynic might suggest that this sound is carefully constructed; pouncing upon the lull in no-nonsense guitar bands before the trend inevitably reforms itself and thrusts a new wave of despondent anti-heroes into the spotlight once again.

But False-Heads are not playing to anyone else’s tune, as the EP’s two bonus tracks Old Cartoons and Feed the News prove. Neither song would necessarily sit well with the band’s demographic (due to their laidback nature), though in the current social climate it would be hard not to identify with sceptical musings such as ‘You don’t need to cry to show how you feel. Misconceptions are boring, You went back on our deal’. Lead singer Luke Griffiths’ deadpan delivery allows the loud/quiet dynamics to come to the fore across all the tracks, complimenting the distorted dissonance of Without A Doubt and lending the pop melody of Where Is Your Man? a wistful innocence.

There is nothing innocent about Osmium Guillotine. Stalker! (the first track from the band’s new EP ‘Into the Battle’) opens with a thunderstorm sample (a la Slayer) before launching into a barrel-chested riff that stomps to the destructive beat of a medieval horde like that depicted on the EP’s front cover (painted by guitarist Lance Steele-clearly a man of many talents). The troops take the battle to the listener, upping the tempo and bursting into a punk offensive that cuts through beneath the growl of bass player/lead vocalist Elijah Kindon.

Second track Evil Beyond Evil gallops along to the primitive thud of James Balcombe’s drums, leading you down deeper and deeper into the lair of the creature that feasts on mortal flesh and human souls. Despite Elijah’s menacing tone there is a playful humour to these lyrics that comes through in the band’s live performances (a skull adorns the headstock of Elijah’s bass like a battleground trophy), suggesting that they are well aware of the excess of their idols but just can’t resist the urge to have a go themselves. The skill of duelling guitarists Lance and Pete Keliris comes through in the middle section, where they get the space to solo in call and return fashion as the relentless rhythm chugs alongside.

Death From Above is an anti-war song cut from the cloth of Sabbath and Metallica, rallying against the mindless destruction and political corruption of modern warfare. There is a sense of narrative cohesion with Wasteland Warriors (the track that follows), which warns of the savagery and destitution that would ensue in the wake of a nuclear war one hundred years into the future. The EP’s original tracks are rounded off well by Into the Battle, a rousing anthem fit for only the most raucous of ale-fuelled Viking/Saxon feasts. The full EP features no less than seven bonus tracks; two covers (ZZ Top’s Sharp Dressed Man and Anti-Nowhere League’s So What?) and the five original tracks performed live at the Surface Festival in London.

False-Heads and Osmium Guillotine are two very different bands paying allegiance to two very different styles of music. What unites them is their ability to acknowledge their influences without impersonating them, which is surely the aim of all aspiring musicians. The majority of signed rock and metal bands are popular because their music is admired and appreciated, so why not aspire to that level of song writing? Music fans know what they like, and there are sure to be plenty out there who appreciate and enjoy what both of these bands have to offer.



http://false-heads.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/False-Heads/300650261291

http://www.myspace.com/falseheads

http://www.facebook.com/osmiumguillotine

http://osmiumguillotine.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-battle

https://mobile.twitter.com/#!/OsmiumG