Fever Fever – The Bloodless EP

Opening with chiming guitars the title track of fever Fever’s The Bloodless soon shifts gear with a crunching guitar riff, propelled with neanderthal tub thumping and hysterical whoops and hollers of ‘don’t miss it, don’t miss it’ delivered with exuberant vitality that gives the track a momentum that is undeniable. After such an opening salvo the signs are good for this Norwich trio and in the main, most of the subsequent tracks live up to the promise of this impressive start.

The second track Static ratchets the energy levels up even further and static is one thing you will find hard to remain as the insistent rhythms and escalating riffing guitar crescendos force your inhibitions into submission. Up next is Butchers Shop which despite maintaining energy levels with vocals demonically demanding ‘hang it in the butchers shop’ to great effect  feels like treading water, to some extent, and flails around rather aimlessly trying to establish a riff it can hold onto and call its own. A return to riff central (probably the band’s strongest asset) is attained on Mouth House colliding neatly with the hysterically frantic refrain of ‘Tell me something I don’t know!’ which emerges as much of a plea as a command. Final track Black Lung rounds things off neatly whilst hinting at a multi dimensional future, as the backing vocals attest, allowing the music space and warmth that it is going to need if the band wishes to move beyond their limited post punk roots.

The Bloodless therefore proves itself to be anything but bloodless with its adrenaline fuelled high octane performances. In some instances, especially in the buzzsaw cadences of the guitars, I could sense echoes of the Buzzcocks classic Another Music in a Different Kitchen and that is no bad thing.

www.myspace.com/feverfevertheband