EP REVIEW: Forgotten Sons – Forgotten Sons

Hailing from the Shetland Islands comes FORGOTTEN SONS and their self-titled EP. Coming from a remote part of the UK can be difficult, but they’ve made it work through the constant grind of touring and doing live shows throughout the UK. Naming their influences in the likes of BIFFY CLYRO and THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM, you would imagine this EP to be filled with anthemic tracks with lyrics that remain stuck in your head… sadly those expectations aren’t met.

Opening with Flipside, we begin with track that opens as if it may go down your typical pop-punk route, but it doesn’t. And it’s strange. We’re not sure how this is possible, but the band have manged to make it sound like a melodic pop tune but also make it incredibly disjointed at the same time. It’s disappointing overall as there’s none of the hype or nostalgia that one might expect and it’s not like it’s interesting. It feels uncomfortable as you wait for something, you don’t know what, but it never arrives.

You hope things improve with Socials, which starts out promising and is certainly a lot better put together. It’s pleasant yet stays a little dull. More than anything it feels like FORGOTTEN SONS are trying to come across as quirky and endearing but they don’t quite hit the nail on the head. It doesn’t get much better with I’m Fine, an acoustic number led by guitar. You can tell that they’re trying to hit big, strong vocals but, once again, it doesn’t quite work. Furthermore, the lead and backing vocals don’t blend whatsoever. It’s clunky and disjointed; any sentimental value that they’re trying to achieve is lost as you’re completely taken out of any feelings or atmosphere that the song wants to put across.

Now we’re on to the final track Wasteland Mindset. At this point you’re wondering what the point is, even though it sounds promising and decent at first, we know that it’s not going to last and…hang on, we take that back! This is an absolutely incredible song with a fantastic beat, melody and vocals and makes you feel incredibly nostalgic and fills you with warmth. Where was this throughout the whole EP? Better late than never but why did it take until the final song for things to get good?

Forgotten Sons is a strange EP. You don’t quite hate it but you don’t love it either. It feels like the band are trying to be something they’re not, and the quirky and endearing trait they seem to be going for feels incredibly forced. In a summary it’s an EP filled with false starts and disappointment as you wait for hype that doesn’t hit. And to make it even more frustrating, they end the EP with an absolute banger of a song that just leaves you annoyed as they didn’t have this energy throughout the entire record.

Rating: 6/10

Forgotten Sons is set for release on November 18th via self-release.

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