So Long Until The Séance (SLUTS) have been about for a year or two and come to us via the now defunct Little Miss Stakes, but have only recently seen fit to furnish us with some recorded material.  This comes in the form of their EP ‘Seducing The Devil’. ‘Burn The Witch’ is the opening track and with its mix of – literal death knells, meatloaf-esque piano intro and blend of thrashy goth throaty verses and wailing guitar, crowd shouting catchy choruses –  perfectly reflects the bands ‘throw everything at the wall and see what sticks’ attitude.  It easy to think that this track is a 9+ minute affair that Jim Steinman would be proud of, but it comes in at an incredible 4 and half minutes and rushes over you like a jumble sale at a graveyard. I like it.

Track 2 continues, in a little more structured way, and is slightly more restrained whilst still managing to sound like Motely Crue were asked to score the film The Lost Boys during their ‘Shout At The Devil’ era.  The catchy as VD ‘Dead Boys’ Chorus will have you fist pumping and looking for your dangley cross earrings in no time.

Overdose starts off bass heavy and thunders on full steam ahead, the singer(s?) towing a fine line as the singing ranges between guttural and angelic.  A wee solo 2 half and a minutes in helps Christian this and sees it right through until the end comes chugging into sight.

Dead Pretty opens like a zombified Flogging Molly and then settles into cementing the bands style of all styles, which seems to work because it shouldn’t work, but these guys seem know their craft so well that they’re bending and moulding all these things in together in a way that less experienced musicians would struggle with.  They also bring in a fantastic sounding piano half way through this final track that really ramps things up and gives it a certain gravitas for the final send off before being accompanied by a blistering guitar.

Great Stuff all round from So Long Until The Séance here’s hoping it isn’t RIP after such a blistering start.

 

Chris Caldwell

Author: Chris Caldwell

Chris Caldwell at your service! My favourite things are eating and Theatre, I have 2 small sons called Alex and Max who are more mustard than Hellmann's. I spend my days trying to wrangle them and exploring my favourite city - BELFAST! My favourite films are horror, my fav music is metal and my favourite Beatle is Ringo, mainly his work on Thomas the Tank.