Damage Protocol – The Debut Self Titled EP.
Damage Protocol – Leicester, England, United Kingdom.
We enjoy dissecting releases like this on Musically Fresh, releases that keep us guessing and refuse to sit too near any genre-camp situated around them and the debut EP from Leicester three-piece Damage Protocol can certainly be counted among this number.
Released back in July of this year, this eponymous release is the fruit of a band who’s loins have their tendencies but often go with the flow and adapt to and around whatever the creativity produces. Damage Protocol give an approximate stand point as somewhere between Post-Punk and Alternative Metal, a starting point that is itself precarious at best.
The Post-Punk gloom is obvious with the opening tracks ‘Man Down In Missouri’ and ‘Poison’ boasting infectious guitar work flipping between said gloom and the eerie Post-Grunge world of the early 2000’s with an metallic edge not far behind.
With track three, ‘Mortar Life Than War’, you are taken away from this slow rhythmic thud and thrown into different territory altogether with Damage Protocol’s Alternative Metal self-label is now the staple protocol.
With a slight infusion from a more modern Metalcore sound, it may well hold true to the band’s ethos of differentiation but almost contrasts a little too much within it’s own progression through the more metallic inclinations of the three-piece. ‘Mortar Life Than War’ feels like an amalgamation of too many different tracks together despite being sonically quite impressive.
‘Special’ sticks to this heavier road but also despite its frequent time changes and chaotic percussion, sounds far more coherent and more like the track the previous may have been trying to be.
‘Like a ship on rough seas we sink.
Its all down to you.
Spread you greed like the latest disease.
It’s all dust when you are through‘
There is some considerable influence from Grunge on the band’s sound and notably the vocal stylistics of Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder and with the more rounded sound of ‘Special’ and it’s follower, ‘Kat’s Pause’, the EP refines it’s tactics.
The low bass-rumble and sad smile of the Post-Punk guitar intros that opened this EP resurge more so on ‘Kat’s Purse’ in particular, where we are treated to more of the band’s dark song writing and stellar guitar work.
’52’ is lyrically speaking again very dark but very well written, while musically it chooses to end this debut EP with the band at their most down tempo and actually stands as one of the best on the release.
Damage Protocol’s tracks were handpicked from a wider range of material from the band’s pool of experimentation and with the next release well into the production stages, what the band will do next is something we certainly feel a pang of anticipation for and you should too for that matter.
Find the band below:
- Visit the band on Facebook for updates.
- The band’s music can be found for streaming on SoundCloud and Spotify.
- The EP is available to download on bandcamp and iTunes.
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