EP REVIEW: Kill The Sun – Cane Hill

With their second album Too Far Gone, CANE HILL continued to push their nu metal meets metalcore sound forward. The album was a far more mature effort than their debut, with plenty of moments where they slowed things down and focused on their melodic side. These were some of the highlights on that album and it seems that CANE HILL were well aware of this. A year later and they are back with a follow up EP titled Kill The Sun, which presents a stripped back version of CANE HILL that we haven’t quite heard before.

Opener 86d – No Escort really sets the tone for this EP. There is a huge post-grunge influence on CANE HILL this time round. The guitars are almost entirely acoustic and Elijah Witt‘s crooning vocals are incredibly reminiscent of Scott Weiland. CANE HILL have never been the most original band and their sound does borrow heavily from the late ’90’s and early ’00’s but again it never feels completely derivative here. The band are clearly so passionate about this sort of music and that adds a real authenticity to their sound.

Empty is arguably the most fragile and vulnerable the band have ever sounded. Witt‘s vocals on the chorus are so delicate and again the guitars and drums are so stripped back. It’s such a different sound for them it’s hard to believe this is the band who broke through with a song like Sunday School. There’s a nice acoustic guitar solo in the middle of this track which adds a little flare to the song but otherwise the musical canvas on a track like this is very minimal.

It really is Witt who stands out on this EP. With how stripped back everything is it’s harder for the rest of the band to really make an impact but what they do is create the right musical backdrop for Witt. He has once again shown even more maturity as both a vocalist and lyricist, his clean vocals have never sounded better. This EP is not something CANE HILL would have been capable of in the past and that growth is impressive.

The biggest downside here is that it starts to feel a little bit repetitive towards the end. The EP peaks with the title track and the two songs that follow just don’t quite match anything in the first half. It feels like if these songs were mixed in with some of the more traditional CANE HILL songs on an album it would easily be the best thing this band have done.

Still, as an experimental little EP this is an interesting direction for CANE HILL. Whether this ends up being a one off and the band return to heavier terrain on their next release remains to be seen. But if they can combine what they’ve done here with their heavier side then then the future looks even more exciting for CANE HILL than its ever has.

Rating: 7/10

Kill The Sun is out now via Rise Records. 

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