EP REVIEW: Mosaic – Grizzlyshark
Brisbane-based easycore band GRIZZLYSHARK have put out their latest EP, Mosaic; a whole new era that they believe pushes them to a whole different level. This release allowed them to work with the likes of Alan Day (FOUR YEAR STRONG) who co-wrote leading track TMS, and producer Troy Brady who’s worked with the likes of THE AMITY AFFLICTION and IN HEARTS WAKE. With all of this you can’t help but imagine that we have got a winner here; we’ll have a banger of a record… well, not quite.
When Mosaic opens with TMS, you will immediately find yourself hooked, you’ll find yourself going “woah” – surely this will be an accurate representation of the whole EP. Things continue to look promising with What’s The Plan, Gogglehead?, a track with a strong chorus that is very reminiscent of NECK DEEP; all you know is that you want to find the nearest mosh pit and jump in. Unfortunately, after these two songs things become rather uninspiring.
The EP isn’t necessarily bad or something to avoid entirely but it’s a record you’ll maybe listen to once, forget about rather quickly and then go off to listen to the different artists or songs that certain songs remind you of. There’s No I In Quarenteam has an intro very similar to SLEEPING WITH SIRENS‘ If You Can’t Hang; Paleblood has elements that remind you of SLIPKNOT’s Duality; and Something Of A Scientist Myself… well the track is honestly so forgettable that the only thing we can think of is how much we enjoy a Spiderman reference.
You’d think that with a band that has been termed “Austrailia’s heaviest pop-punk band” we would have an incredible EP that makes us excited about seeing GRIZZLYSHARK grow and seeing where the future takes us but instead we’re left with little substance. It’s not that Moasic has nothing going for it; the distorted instruments alongside both rough and clean vocals do blend together beautifully, and you can certainly hear that influence of A DAY TO REMEMBER and FOUR YEAR STRONG. But maybe that’s the issue.
When listening to a certain artist’s music you should feel excited, you should want to go and listen to more of their discography; you shouldn’t be left thinking about how it reminds you of SLEEPING WITH SIRENS (for example) and going back to listen to them instead. It also doesn’t help that aside from the first two tracks, you can’t really remember much of the other songs as they seem to blend into one long, rather bland, track.
Mosaic is decent but uninspiring; GRIZZLYSHARK do appear to know what works for them sound and style wise; they have potential but they need to find something that shows off their individual style, something that everyone will know is GRIZZLYSHARK when they hear it, not another wannabe clone of A DAY TO REMEMBER.
Rating: 6/10
Mosaic is out now via self-release.
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