Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Harlot - Empty Words

Hear The Track Here


It is always nice to make the acquaintance of a new netlabel, even more so when it's based here in the UK. Mah country, love it or leave it eh? Ambicon Records is the name of the label, based out Newcastle and the North East, always a good breeding ground for class bands; they have to be good otherwise the local audience will swallow them whole and spit them out in little bubbles. Harlot are a four piece, doing lots of live work by the looks of it and they certainly don't look any the worse for it so that's a good sign too, isn't it?

I must admit I suffered some nerves as the intro had definite proggy overtones but once the main song kicked in it's obvious that hard rock/metal is where this Harlot's heart is at, and - as you can imagine - that's fine by this rocker. My initial horror at the proggy bit was mistaken because, when all is said and done, this is a surprisingly American sounding piece of rock, especially vocally. Don't be misled by first impressions, Empty Words will take some digging into to really appreciate what Harlot are about.

Not exactly the kind of rock song I would have associated with the North East by hey, it takes all kinds. As well as showing the confidence and maturity of the band, Empty Words also displays a clean pair of production hands too; a recording and mix that seems to do them justice. Having said that, I admit that Empty Words isn't exactly to my taste (I prefer the rougher trade) but I'd certainly point any discerning rock fan the bands way because they definitely have the song, the attitude and the track. Neat.

Highly Recommended Rock.

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