Group Of Man release their new EP What We Got In Common via Future Void Records / Smithsfoodgroup DIY / Holy Roar. Group Of Man came together in the space of a few weeks at the tail end of 2015 after the slow agonizing death of MINE. Suckers for punishment and a combined love of punk and classic rock, Chris Barling (ex Hang The Bastard) and Mark Scurr (ex Centurions Ghost) took advantage of Pariso calling it a day and pounced on Stu Anderson AKA The Death Hammer to play bass. After a revolving door of different members and fill ins, the line-up is complete with the additions of Joe ‘The Real’ Watson (Apologies, I Have None) and Dan Mills (ex Hammers).
What you’ve got is six hard rock tracks with tones of punk and hardcore and a grammatically incorrect title. Opener ‘Everyone’s A Punk These Days’ plays as a driving hard rock track with hardcore punk vocals and flourishes of crunching riffs before the angular and discordant ‘Easerhead’ blends intricate guitar parts with a hardcore punch and passion. Both strong tracks to set up a strong a formidable EP.
It’s in ‘That Good Kinda Glue’ and ‘The Machine Stops Whirring’ that the EP really starts to come into its own. There’s more of the driving hard rock with a hardcore edge in the former, standing out as an excellent track due to the superb riffs, whilst the latter shines bright as the best track on the record. Forthright and commanding, the visceral hardcore passion shines through an infectious hard rock drive. ‘Quit Waiting Around’ throws caution to the wind and takes you on a riotous 2-minute-42-second punk assault. There’s such energy emanating from the track that you want to throw yourself around the room. ‘Can’t Hack The Straight Life’ rounds things off in style, harnessing the hard edge of early Therapy? with an added hardcore mix.
Get this in your life. (altdialogue)
