Ivyrise - Ivyrise

  On the self titled debut from Up-and-coming pop rock stars, London's Ivyrise manage to impress and raise a few spirits with their sometimes uplifting, sometimes bursting with emotions, overall heartfelt and pretty sounding album.

 When opener, Hurts begins with its melancholic piano intro, many cynics will be put off, accuse the band of being soppy and perhaps even think of Coldplay. However many others hear this and know this is going to escalate into a much bigger sound. And it does. As, powerful drum beats begin crashing into action and sharp and heavy guitar riffs are emitted, listeners realize this album stands on a more hard hitting level of pop rock bands, with a sound that is closer to that of Biffy Clyro, or You Me At Six. 

 Certainly, Ivyrise show a talent for making uplifting pop rock songs, as seen in the heartfelt but hard hitting indie rock sound of Too Much or the more melancholic ballad performance in You Know Me, with lyrics of a loving nature "Line up the stars/ What do you see/ A picture of me/ Or an imagine of love", I guess would be a good example. However, this is something of a problem. It's too romantic and over-emotional and tends to get a bit repetitive, which is a shame because Ivyrise are a band who seem capable of making a really fun sounding belter of a song, were the lyrical qualities more spiteful, even if the subject is about a girl being a bitch, as You Me At Six has been seen to do. The constant amount of over-romantic lyrics on a pop rock album just seems to give the impression that Ivyrise wanted their fanbase to made up largely of... tweens. 

 Well, Ivyrise is certainly a solid debut and the songs are well executed and catchy, as all great pop rock should be. Hopefully, we'll hear more from these guys and if we do, hopefully there'll be a broader expansion upon their lyrical horizons.