A number of years ago every band in the local scene (Kent, UK) either ripped off ***ty metalcore Kerrang bands, or ***ty pop punk Kerrang bands. It was a weird mix of comfort at the familiarity, but also frequently ingratiating at the level of relative mediocrity abound.
Now in 2015, False-Heads are but one of the many DIY bands scavenging from the 90s. This time, the comfort these bands offer is in the actual music, the scuzzy instrumentation and atmosphere allowing as much room to breathe as there is to drown yourself in the noise and forget all the ***. False-Heads offer all this stuff along with dynamics, and reliable songwriting. The first song off this EP, ‘Wrap Up’ opens with a distorted riff dancing about the fretboard, as the bass and drums chase after it before it all kicks back for the verse. The chorus gives the riff a chance to fully explode in all its down-tuned, scuzzed-up glory. Not much to break new ground, but it’s stuff that’s always welcome, and goes down a treat live, the mid-passage as destructive as any
Queens Of The Stone Age or early
Muse freak-out.
'Twentynothing' sounds like a
Nevermind deep-cut and, honestly, there’s little wrong with that, the song offering very little time to relax in its heady glory. The chorus in ‘Snatch’ is drowned out by all the distortion, but the reckless angst is still loud and proud ad recognisable.
The last song, ‘Nothing In There’, offers the most promise. It’s slow, creeping, and pulls back and lunges forward at all the right opportunities, with the repeated line of ‘wherever you turn, I’ll be there’.
Wear And Tear isn’t a revolution, but it’s a great mix of all the right vibes and aesthetics, and they offer enough variation within their songs to wind around your heart. A token to all the great sounds coming from down south right now.
