Always a pleasure to listen and review budding bands from Nottingham, especially when they sound like this! Perhaps staying true to their name, in their latest single Lucky Soul, badass Midlands trio PRIMAL serve up a crude, visceral, dense wall of distortion and crashing cymbals which will summon your inner primate.
Without any previous knowledge of their music, I was lulled into a false sense of security by those almost dance-y first three seconds of tight, pulsating drums. That was immediately before the wolf-howling guitar lick and the reverberating claps – which I can’t help but to hear as yelling ‘THUN – DER’, à la AC/DC – transported and exposed me to the elements of some sort of imaginary Land of the Lost apocalyptic rainforest landscape, which I can’t get enough of.
Their first single since 2017’s whiplash-inducing, self-titled EP, Lucky Soul is a perfect appetizer to their brand new EP Heart & Soul (19/5/18 – check it out on bandcamp!) which carries on in their tradition of vigorous Blues-infused, weighty music for the body. This EP title is also appropriate because – in comparison with PRIMAL’s debut EP, which promises to be loud, heavy-hitting and likely to cause injury – its matured follow-up is toned-down by comparison which, I realise, might not be saying much.
This well-refined and clean progression of their sound, which sheds more light on the individual delicacy of each member, makes for a thrilling coming of age for PRIMAL, one which invites us to feel not just with body, but with heart and soul.
I kid you not, this is the first band that I’ve reviewed, listened to 20 times over and still want to continue to listen to. I shall say no more.
Review by Liam MacGregor
Stream “Lucky Soul” here on Spotify!
For reviews email a streaming link and as much info as you can about the release to Info@imnotfromlondon
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