EP REVIEW: New Age Warriors Remix – Crossfaith

CROSSFAITH have an interesting relationship with the UK. One of the hottest exports from the Land of the Rising Sun with a penchant for shaking venues to their foundations with their explosive live shows, they never seem to be talked about at large; you certainly don’t see many of their t-shirts at gigs. Yet, every time they return to the UK – as they will in April supporting BURY TOMORROW, everyone remembers just how brilliant they are. Last week, they released a new EP which sees the three tracks from their New Age Warriors maxi-single (released in July last year) each receive two remixes from the likes of ENTER SHIKARI and THE QEMISTS, among others.

Remix albums are always something of a lottery: one the one hand, you receive a free insight into the minds of other musicians, what elements of a song they have found interesting and strong when listening to it, then taken said elements and put their own spin on it. On the other…well, the songs can be very hit and miss. This is very much the case here as well: both Zardonic and TeddyLoid, who have turned their hand to Rx Overdrive have taken the chorus as a particular point of focus, but whilst the former has crafted a thumping drum and bass style beat over the guitars and vocals, the latter has taken the tempo down somewhat, allowing the master track into the mix more and layering a SKRILLEX-esque beat on top; the tracks have something about them, but they’re still lacking any real bite.

The standouts here are from the aforementioned THE QEMISTS and ENTER SHIKARI – here billed as Shikari Sound System – who have taken on the frenzied Kill Em All. The Brighton boys have shown their counterparts how to  produce upbeat vibes and give it teeth, but the boys in ENTER SHIKARI give us the highlight of the EP, stripping the song right back with a much more mellow beat allowing the vocals to reverb around the track and giving the words a new edge that isn’t fully appreciated amongst the chaos of the original. Revolution, arguably the weakest song of the EP is given a makeover by both KSUKE and the brilliantly named Bloody Beetroots, but neither effort is able to stand against what has come before it, falling short of memorable moments and bringing proceedings to a somewhat limping conclusion

This is certainly a record that is for fans of the bands involved, CROSSFAITH to show a new side to their songs, the artists to hopefully entice their followings to liking the Japanese outfit. Outside of that, it’s hard to see who it’s really appealing to.

Rating: 6/10

New Age Warriors Remix is out now via UNFD.

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