Sunday 22 March 2015

Recluse - The Quiet Hours (Album Review)


























Album Type: Full Length
Release Date: June 2015
Record Label: Tiny Revelations

The Quiet Hours – Track Listing

1. Horrible / Beautiful (3:54)
2. Move Me (4:16)
3. Temper (4:55)
4. Now You're Gone (3:55)
5. Leper Captain (5:03)
6. Machine's Way (6:10)
7. Soothe (4:03)
8. Bury Us Separately (5:48)
9. Augustus (4:08)
10. Ectropion (5:33)
11. Cherry (5:39)
12. I Only Pretend To Know (2:17)

Bio

Since 2009 Recluse have continually played the local South Wales scene and festivals throughout the UK with a great response to their dynamic and powerful live show. Recluse regularly play with some of UK's up-and-coming bands such as Henry's Funeral Shoe, Kyshera, Bad Sign and Spider Kitten. Following on from their highly praised debut studio album Crooked Heart, they will release their 2nd album in spring 2015.

Members

Britt - Guitar & Vocals
Tom - Bass
Alex - Drums

Review:

Recluse is a hard rocking Desert Rock/Blues/Grunge combo from Wales. Bands we normally feature from Wales tend to be on the Sludge/Stoner Metal of things with bands such as H A R K, Sigiriya, Spider Kitten and Hogslayer. So it's quite refreshing to hear a different style of Hard Rock from our Welsh Brothers in arms. Recluse has been compared to QOTSA and Soundgarden when they released their critically acclaimed debut back in 2011/12.

Now the guys are back with their second album - The Quiet Hours. It's very different to their debut album. This album is darker, progressive, heavier and the band showing a more confident ruthless streak as they venture into some pretty dark places. Opening track - Horrible / Beautiful - may not give that direct impression but give this album time as you will be blasted with a seedy Grunge like Desert Rock guitar riff with hints of blues rock providing a distinctive Fuzz sound. These guys have a great reputation amongst the UK Hard Rock scene and they've toured with some great bands such as Spider Kitten.

Recluse brand of good old fashioned rock and roll becomes ever more confident and you slowly feel becoming part of the action and not wanting to end. Tracks such as Move Me, Temper, Leper's Captain and Machine's Way prove that Recluse may have that extra something special to breakout into the burgeoning UK Hard Rock scene. All those songs show what highly talented songwriters the band actually are. They have written intelligent lyrics with the music to match. 

Ectropion - has a slight early Foo Fighters vibe with Britt resembling an early Dave Grohl though the dark Desert Rock vibe is still there for everyone to experience. It's a slow-paced track for the first few minutes until Recluse explode into life with impressive fast paced grunge/desert rock riffs. The drumming is intense at times as Recluse shows us what they are made of. Recluse then change style once more by a more bass heavy approach to their music before winding down to a more slow-paced feel as the vocals become poignant and bittersweet.

One of the final tracks - Cherry - opens with a 70s style bass approach before the heavy guitars and drums take over for a slight funky beat. This song is firmly rooted in 70s Classic Hard Rock with touches of modern Stoner Rock to provide another exciting song for Recluse to prove their worth. Things become very psychedelic as the band let fly with impressive guitar solos straight from the 60s/70s whilst maintaining their own vision and identity on proceedings. The last 90 seconds of Cherry sees the band play some impressive Blues/Hard Rock solos that come out of nowhere. Cherry is one of the albums best songs. It's an exciting and thrilling song that will go down a storm on the live arena.

The final song - I Only Pretend To Know - is beautifully played and written but it slow things right down and the hard rocking mood Recluse wisely built up is sadly disrupted by this song. It would have been better if the band closed with a fast-paced hard rock number. Though that's my only criticism of the album Recluse have created an album which lays on the heavy grunge like FUZZ in a big way as this album will appeal to fans of QOTSA, Soundgarden, and Foo Figthers.

Some people may complain that the album is a little overblown at about 60 minutes in length. Recluse have created an excellent album to impress you with. If you want riffs, riffs and more riffs with a whole ton of excitement then The Quiet Hours is the album for you. All in all, The Quiet Hours is an exciting album for you to immerse yourself with. Highly Recommended.

Thanks to Recluse for the promo. The Quite Hours will be available to buy on CD/DD from Tiny Revelations Records from June 2015

Words by Steve Howe

For More Information

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