Grungers provide promising glimpses, but need to follow through in future.
Citing Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age and Smashing Pumpkins as major influences, London four-piece Free State Prophets provide a sampler of their material with this three-track demo.
On first listen the above influences are clearly identifiable in the band's rough, grungey sound, consisting of heavily overdriven guitars and hoarse, gravely vocals. The band also used a recording method known as 'bleedover', which is the blending of studio recording and live performance recording together to produce a sound more reflective of their live show. However, there is a fine line between less polished, live sounding production and just plain bad production. Unfortunately, in my opinion, this demo edges on the side of the latter.
Track One, 'Momentum' is a promising opener, with an immediately interesting riff utilising clean modulated effects to provide a sense of depth. Characteristic grunge power chords take control of the chorus, with a good lead guitar section to close out the track. 'Replicant' uses a similar formula, with a catchy opening riff that, as a listener, you sense could develop throughout the song. Unfortunately, it doesn't, leaving you slightly aggrieved after the initial promise. 'Scarla' again is very similar to the first two offerings in sound, but is dominated by a good chorus rather than catchy riffs, showcasing a different style of song writing.
Although there is nothing truly exceptional evident on this demo, Free State Prophets have certainly shown some potential to do well within the grunge genre. Personally, I think this demo would be considerably better if the production were tidied up considerably. There is nothing new here, but for fans of this particular style they are worth keeping an eye on.