INHEAVEN – INHEAVEN

Alternative Rock | Indie Rock

80%

I’ve developed a nervous twitch whenever I hear some publication describe a band as the ‘saviours of rock’ or words to that effect, because A) said band are usually nothing to brag about and B) Rock is doing just fine if you put the effort in to find the great upcoming acts. Even I have to admit though that the scene has been getting stronger over the past few years in particular. There’s no one ‘saviour’ though, rather a succession of bands such as Catfish and the Bottlemen and Wolf Alice thrusting the genre back into the limelight. INHEAVEN seem set to be the next link in the chain with their eponymous debut. Bringing together raw garage rock energy, anthemic indie choruses and more nuanced soundscapes that hint at even greater things still to come, it’s hard not to be impressed by this record.

The anti-trump anthem ‘World On Fire’, with lines like “He’ll build a wall and kill them all, Until he’s the last man standing tall”, is just the kind of no-fucks-given protest song that this vile age we find ourselves in has thus far been missing. ‘Regeneration’ is a festival ready banger that is up there with the best of them, ‘Stupid Things’ sounds like the lovechild of Springsteen’s ‘Born To Run’ and Arcade Fire’s ‘Keep The Car Running’, and I defy anyone not to feel pumped up listening to ‘Vultures’. The record is a little rough around the edges, it lacks cohesion and the latter half dips in quality somewhat, but there’s no denying that INHEAVEN have kicked off their career with style. They’ve taken a huge first step as a band, and if they have started as they mean to go on then we could have something pretty special on our hands.