Counterparts – You’re Not You Anymore
Release Date: 22nd September 2017
Label: Pure Noise Records
Pounding out of the blocks, the new Counterparts album, ‘Your’re Not You Anymore’, does not take long to set it’s stall out. After a couple of albums bands can often start to venture off on tangents they would never have dreamed of taking mere months before that. Counterparts avoid this so easily it feels like this effort could follow on from 2015’s ‘Tragedy Will Find Us’ directly, but with an element of clean vocals mixed in.
The few seconds taken up by an intro are instantly forgettable by the time ‘Bouquet’ starts up. It immediately feels like it’s going to be huge live with drums that push it on at a quick pace and vocals that feel as powerful on record as anything I’ve heard live. Vocalist Brendan “B” Murphy had the following to say about the record: “We wanted to write catchier music that’s heavy and still Counterparts, but people can sing along to it live”. This is achieved so much more easily than I’m sure they could have imagined.
The whole album follows a similar pattern with a degree of aggressiveness accompanying the vocals, riffs and drums throughout. With most tracks not making it to the 3 minute mark it means they can go all out for those couple of minutes and regroup between tracks instead of trying to be 100% heavy all of the time. The few more melodic moments on the album provide a respite that almost isn’t needed but is easy to appreciate.
It isn’t hard to tell that Counterparts have been together for a decade now. This album, despite how hard the band have worked on it, feels effortless. Which seems like an odd thing to write about such a forceful collection of songs. They’ve changed the formula subtly and it has paid dividends with an an album that will see them take a big step onwards.
Rating: 9/10
Recommended Tracks: No Servant Of Mine, Haunt Me
The band will play the following dates:
11th November – Patterns, Brighton, UK
12th November – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, UK
13th November – Vintage Bar, Doncaster, UK
14th November – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK
15th November – G2, Glasgow, UK
16th November – Rebellion, Manchester, UK
17th November – Think Tank, Newcastle, UK
18th November – The Dome, London, UK
19th November – Joiners, Southampton, UK
21st November – Patronaat, Harlem, Holland
22nd November – Lux, Hanover, Germany
23rd November – Poglos, Warsaw, Poland
24th November – Firlej, Wroclaw, Poland
25th November – Durer Kert, Budapest, Hungary
Tickets on sale now
www.seetickets.com