EP REVIEW: The Shadowman EP – Tomorrow Is Lost
Bands emerging into the frankly saturated music industry have a mountain the size of Everest to climb to just get their name out there and showcase something unique amongst a field of copy cat bands. Step forward Geordie rockers TOMORROW IS LOST, a band less than two years into their musical careers but ones that are already taking strides towards getting their names known. Relentless UK touring has given the band a loyal fan base and radio play on genre stations like Planet Rock to name one. For all their hard work they get to finally release a debut EP entitled The Shadowman EP.
Megawatt singers like Lzzy Hale from HALESTORM and Becca Macintyre from MARMOZETS have paved the way for female fronted rock in the last few years and TOMORROW IS LOST are like the bastard child of these two bands with a twist and a uniqueness all of their own. The Shadowman EP has five mid length tracks showcasing the strengths of the band. Opening with We Are The Lost, it slides quite literally into your ears with a pick slide and the EP is off and running. An anthemic, groove soaked lament to the people and places who find solace away from the world at large. Vocalist Cass King sings at the top of her register with the kind of call and response stadium antics bands have been playing at for years.
Second track Insane takes the volume and speed down a notch to ballad levels with a slow build showcasing King’s vocals, giving her room to stretch her range. Melody seems to be the key here, harmony guitars dual and lighters, or mobile phones, will surely be held aloft in the live arena. Middle track Rapture brings the tempo back with the lyric “What you’ve got is never going on!” and “We get knocked down, but we get back up!” exemplifying the female empowerment King embodies and others have showcased before her.
No One Knows isn’t a QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE cover, but a percussive lament to the fact that people don’t actually know what’s going to happen and we are all in the same boat, trying to look like we know what we are doing. Final track ShadowMan starts like a CREED song from when they were relevant back in the early 2000’s. That’s no bad thing, they had some catchy tunes, and this is another bow to the arsenal of songs TOMORROW IS LOST have to their catalogue .
There is a variety to The Shadowman EP that’s refreshing for a band so short into their existence as TOMORROW IS LOST. It’s not an EP full of pedal to the metal rock and neither is it a collection that plods along. The five tracks on offer here are a perfect distillation of what the band have to offer and you can easily see them fitting on to diverse bill around their homeland.
Rating: 8/10
The Shadowman EP is out now via self-release.
Like TOMORROW IS LOST on Facebook.