Review: Cold Summer - Wake EP

 Hailing from the wonderful Wakefield, post-hardcore quartet Cold Summer have been wasting no time in making a name for themselves with relentless touring, the writing, rehearsing and recording of several songs and searching for a website to help promote their latest EP Wake. I suppose they made the right choice in looking to myself to do such a thing, which was totally humbling and made me realise that I'm quite powerful. Especially since I'm trusted with music that is so restlessly breathtaking.

The set of songs on the EP are filled to the brim with the levels of energy and oomph-inducing impact that the new generation of British rock bands thriving on influences from post-hardcore and punk bands thrive upon but there's a bit more to what the band are capable of in their songwriting abilities.


 As the feedback drenched intro of Waiting bursts into the colourful wall of punk flavoured shredding from guitarist Chris Harrison, they prove themselves to play with the fiery post-hardcore passion of Hundred Reasons and early Biffy Clyro with frontman Dan Feast's frenzied scream vocals bearing a resemblance to those of Simon Neil. To some extent, they take things a step further on the scale of heaviness, with A is for Arson stirring up roaring metalcore riffage that wouldn't sound out of place on Bullet for My Valentine's The Poison.


 But at the same time, there is a balance between the hardcore based fury and the graceful alt rock influences. And within these ripping melodies and roughened guitar thrashing there is an influence from the likes of Thrice and Thursday (Farewell, both bands) as the energetic performance of Car Crash (In Progress) displays the group's ability to pen an expansive chorus that swells with emotion which also suggests much attention has been paid to the rise of the likes of Young Guns and Lower Than Atlantis as the mixture of enormous hook and off-kilter time signatures adds an extra depth and vibrancy to the scorching display of hardcore anthems that amongst anything just sound so real and all-the-more gripping. Before the tender closing of Mistakes takes things to a softer level and the piano-led emo anthem reveals a layer of fragility and vulnerability to the message seeing them play out on a wide range of msuical ground.


 So, with this being one of their first releases upon to a world of British rock music as the wide range of post-hardcore bands that also love their good old fashioned rock and roll has pretty much exploded and can hopefully remain more than a passing fad, Cold Summer come rolling in with the potential to lead themselves to the top of this collection of bands that are paving the shape of British rock to come. With such soul, such passion and such realism they bring into their sound it will be hard not to fall in love with them.


 And yeah, hopefully more bands will send me their EPs and albums to review. That would be awesome.











Cold Summer's Wake is out now. The band will tour the UK in August with Lemuria and Hearts & Souls.