Why all The Panic? Its not that bad you know.
The Panic, a four-piece from Wiltshire, are attempting to kick up a storm with their debut ep 'How To Answer.' Straight from the off, its obvious the band is into its hard rock and the tone is set by 'Something Hours.'
The initial impression is that the bands musical references date back to Papa Roach with that style of angsty, short, needling riffs and lurches. There is quite a good faded guitar in the mix and there are enough quiet-loud bits to please any young rocker during a gig.
'Clockwork' follows and fits the template of the current type of commercial rock and metal bands in Britain at the moment, the backing vocals compliment the lead melodies very well and tempo-wise, the songs features quite a few changes and dips. The quieter guitar picks stand out very well but the rest of the song chugs along similarly to the first track.
'Eyes Down' ups the tempo a bit, with the riffing and drumming being a bit akin to Pantera's 'Walk' and some basic shouting vocals make up the rest of the song. Of the four tracks available, it probably has the least impact but any worries about the band are banished by the last song on the ep.
'A Day Late' has quite a poppy sheen to it and it balances out the earlier heaviness of the opening tracks. The verse and chorus feel of this track does have a very radio friendly sound to it and it shows that the gap between what some would claim as credible music, and the stuff that is peddled by these new boy bands with guitars is diminishing every day.
This isn't a bad thing, surely if a song has a good chorus and hook then it has some good elements about it. The latter half of 'A Day Late' moves it back into heavier mode with crunching guitars and spitting vocals but the pop sensibilities comes through very well.
Quite a varied and comfortable ep, as a debut outing it shows promise as there may be more to come from The Panic.