THREATMANTICS
Upbeat Love
If you want to hear some good old Welsh names then you need look no further than the three members of Threatmantics. Brothers Heddwyn and Huw Davies first encountered Ceri Mitchell, so the story goes, on the side of a motorway and the band was born. It is fitting that the trio should have met in such an unconventional location as they went on to form a group that certainly strays away from the norm.
The most obvious thing to point out about Threatmantics is that the lead guitar is actually a viola. Also, the keyboardist and the drummer are one and the same. That is, Huw Davies plays both instruments simultaneously. The viola certainly gives an interesting angle to things, as it takes the sound away from the indie-rock path so many bands are keen to tread and moves it more towards folk-punk. There are interestingly ramshackle pop melodies here too though and hum-along choruses like Buried Alive.
At times, their sound does feel a little limited, but within their self-inflicted restrictions there are some foot-stomping tracks to enjoy, like album-opener Big Man, which also demonstrates the typically cynical subject-matter. “It takes a big man to break a young girl’s heart,” Heddwyn Davies yells through a fuzz of distortion. It is a visceral start that rarely dips through the eight tracks here. While, at little over thirty minutes, it is more of a mini-album than a full offering, Upbeat Love offers enough of a teaser to suggest that, when a long player eventually drops, it should be greeted with interest.
Upbeat Love
If you want to hear some good old Welsh names then you need look no further than the three members of Threatmantics. Brothers Heddwyn and Huw Davies first encountered Ceri Mitchell, so the story goes, on the side of a motorway and the band was born. It is fitting that the trio should have met in such an unconventional location as they went on to form a group that certainly strays away from the norm.
The most obvious thing to point out about Threatmantics is that the lead guitar is actually a viola. Also, the keyboardist and the drummer are one and the same. That is, Huw Davies plays both instruments simultaneously. The viola certainly gives an interesting angle to things, as it takes the sound away from the indie-rock path so many bands are keen to tread and moves it more towards folk-punk. There are interestingly ramshackle pop melodies here too though and hum-along choruses like Buried Alive.
At times, their sound does feel a little limited, but within their self-inflicted restrictions there are some foot-stomping tracks to enjoy, like album-opener Big Man, which also demonstrates the typically cynical subject-matter. “It takes a big man to break a young girl’s heart,” Heddwyn Davies yells through a fuzz of distortion. It is a visceral start that rarely dips through the eight tracks here. While, at little over thirty minutes, it is more of a mini-album than a full offering, Upbeat Love offers enough of a teaser to suggest that, when a long player eventually drops, it should be greeted with interest.
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