Hello dear readers and welcome to what will hopefully be a regular review section by myself, Neil Woodside. To give some sort of an introduction my two loves in life are strong coffee and catchy hooks and with that we dive head first into this review.
False Solution are a four-piece hard rock band hailing from Belfast. Forming in late 2015, the fact that they are already releasing material shows that this band isn’t just gonna piss about playing Foo Fighters covers at school talent shows
In fact the first song on the Head In The Sand EP Make It Big delves right into the subject matter of rock’n’roll stardom. A subject matter that is as cliché as it gets, but sometimes you don’t always want to hear about how the government is lying to you; sometimes you just want to feel like you and your guitar are gonna change the world.
(As a side note, the opening line “I was born in the 1990’s” instantly made me feel old and like I was trying to get down with the kids.)
The song sounds very much like it’s possibly the first song these guys have ever written as a group but in it there’s a very good chorus that will be great to hear live. (Though any song with a good set of “woah-woahs” is gonna get me hooked.)
By the time the tune gets to the solo the song does lose a bit of steam but, like I said, for a first song it’s a strong start. Superfluous swearing in the lyrics, however, rather than giving this song an edge, merely serves to take its potentially radio-friendly quality away.
Head in the Sand, the title track of this EP, sounds more in line with where this band is aiming to go. The guitar work is solid but what really stands out is the rhythm section: a meaty bass sound and driving drums give this song an air of late 70’s/80’s hard rock.
Once again these lads can write a belter of a chorus; the vocals show emotion but are dying for harmonies, especially on the course. The guitar solo is hugely improved, well thought out with just enough flash, while fitting the tone of the overall song.
The EP’s closing track Mind Reader, seems to lie somewhere in between the two prior tracks. This song displays solid ideas but needs to be road tested at gigs and allowed evolve. The opening guitar work – with its “nod” to Weezer’s Say It Ain’t So – has a nice transition from the clean verses to the distorted course.
Any criticisms that might arise, however, can be taken with a pinch of salt, as the guys in False Solution are just in the door. What we do have here are incredibly strong foundations that will only get better with time and experience. If these guys can write three solid songs with little to no road testing then I look forward to hearing future releases.
False Solution’s Facebook page can be found here, and their EP Head in the Sand can be heard on Bandcamp, iTunes and Spotify.
Every now and again Neil Woodside can be found on Twitter, ranting about buses. He will probably use it more now he’s doing this. Find him here.
