The coastal region of Brighton, UK has hit its stride this year along with several outfits from around the corners of the UK. Five-piece youngsters Roam have aligned themselves with this current flux of UK acts with their latest five-song EP effort, Head Down, which sees the band burrowing a nest into the ground, ready to be furnished with the inevitable praise they show they rightfully deserve.
Opener “You Never Said” starts off with an off-kilter rhythm before springing off into a melodic stomp encouraging listeners to bob their heads cohesively and submerge themselves within the parallels on Head Down. The epitome of unsettling restlessness is depicted in the chorus of "I’ve had to rest my head and it's temporary. I tore the walls down in my head in hopes that I see clearly.".
The second track, “Sticker Slap”, is a minute-long rager that is signalled as soon as vocalist Alex Costello roars "Learning from mistakes we lose ourselves to re-navigate and feel the pressure start to weigh in...", which burns a trail at a startling speed, reminiscent of the angsty Kingston-era Title Fight material. The charm in “Sticker Slap” is that it never settles in any one spot as much as it coyly reasons with you that it will. The song slides smoothly into the second single, “Nothing In Return”, which, next to the aforementioned track (and subsequent tracks on the rest of the record), briefly appears tame in places at times.
“Foresight” is nothing short of what Roam clearly suggests they excel at throughout Head Down: melody, angst and rawness. “Foresight” employs a finely-stripped cut of Daggermouth-esque chromatic licks with the backbone of Neck Deep’s primitive blunt style.
However, it is on the closer, and first single, “Head Rush”, where all of Roam's mesmerizing merits come to the forefront and where the song is powered by the ability to stretch across the palette of every dynamic imaginable to exacerbate the power of the song itself. Power-strengthened by the acknowledgement of the significance of taking control in the event of hardship, a theme which transforms from one form to the other from each track on Head Down. “Head Rush” is the brightest moment on the record, where the vocal interplay between vocalist Alex Costello and guitarist/co-vocalist Alex Adam is tenfold with precision, adding yet another admirable dynamic to the record which listeners are already shown on Head Down.
Tracklist:
1. You Never Said
2. Sticker Slap
3. Nothing In Return
4. Foresight
5. Head Rush
RIYL: Kingston-era Title Fight, While You Were Sleeping-era The Story So Far, Neck Deep
Rating:
More reviews by Aaron Akeredolu
