Photographs reproduced by kind permission of Sue Paterson Photography © All rights reserved.
The Brit Awards, The X Factor and all the other extravagant and expensive spectacles the music industry continues to churn out cannot disguise several obvious truths; real talent, real musical ability, imaginative song writing and passionate and thrilling live performances are a million miles away from these repellent, sycophantic and grubby indulgences.
As genuine music lovers know, real talent is found, opera houses, jazz clubs and symphony halls aside, in spit-and-sawdust backstreet pubs and clubs throughout the land.
While the licensing trade continues to be battered on all sides and pubs and clubs are shutting at the rate of five a week across the UK, paradoxically, there has never been a time when so many unsigned bands with genuine talent and ability have touted their wares across the land’s watering holes.
Pretty much any night of the week, somewhere, there will be a band playing its collective heart out and rocking the socks off any biped within range of a Marshall stack.
Further confirmation of this state of affairs was secured last night, when yours truly was invited to hear five new songs from the region’s premier melodic groove metalers, Isolysis.
I’d only just recovered from the staggering leap to the next level that Toxic Federation had executed, via their latest single, Life Of Mine, when a grinning Bane urged me to “Ay a listen to this, mate. It’s bostin’” before leading his band mates through a paint-blistering rendition of a brand new song entitled, Alive.
Utterly unlike anything the band has written previously, the new cut is a joyous, up-beat romp through several major chords with a very Classic Rock-style riff.
Easily the most commercial thing the quartet have penned, it’s a glorious, stomping, radio-friendly gem that will produce instant grins of shit-eating proportions when it’s debuted live.
As Danny Beardsley offered, while casually firing off one of his trademark licks, the band were “…getting fed up of writing miserable stuff all the time, H. It’s all right, though, don’t you think?” Oh yes, Danny. It most certainly is. And then some…
The next tune was a malevolent and menacing mid-tempo grind the band has dubbed, Satan’s Lullaby. Again, there isn’t really anything in the current Isolysis canon that compares to this ferocious, irresistibly moshable, beast of a song. It will take roofs off everywhere.
Hourglass, previously aired rarely, live, has undergone something of a revamp and has emerged as an even more impressive Isolysis-style ballad than the original prototype.
It’s apparent that the band has moved to an altogether more sophisticated and melodic plane. Their musical Royal Flush completed by Reflections, a beautifully lilting and impassioned minor-key piece of introspection and Volatile. A rip-snorting rocker that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Condemned and will reassure long-term fans of the band that more melody and keener commercial sensibility doesn’t equal going soft or selling out.
Rhythmically, the band is now a very different animal, due, of course, to the recruitment of sticksman Dave Rickstein Wright.
“As a guitarist myself, it comes naturally for me to lock onto what Danny’s doing” explained Wright “Dan Dan [Hayes, bass] almost plays lead and has such great timing that I just don’t need to worry about where he is. I know he’ll be tight to the beat and on my kick-drum. That allows me the freedom to work around Danny and what he’s doing”
Whatever it is, it’s exciting to see it happen and it’s clear that the new line-up has struck gold in the song writing stakes.
“We were planning on keeping all the new stuff under wraps and saving it for the next album” said Bane, “but with all we’ve got going on, we just don’t know yet when that’s likely to happen. We might slip Alive into the set at the Tox Fed gig, just to see how it goes down”
Tox Fed gig? Oh, didn’t I mention that? Yes, the band is due to appear as Very Special Guests at Toxic Federation’s April show (exact date to be confirmed) at The Sportsman in Long Eaton.
“Beth [Windsor, Toxic Federation’s manager] ‘phoned Trace [Isolysis’ manager] and offered us the gig” continued Bane, “She said we can have an hour if we want, bless her, and Tox Fed fans, we hope, will like Alive”
The band’s manager, Tracy Kirk, explained “We’ve got so much going on, currently, that it’s difficult planning everything in. The acoustic E.P. is planned to be out by Easter and the new video is set to be released on Tuesday, March 1st so we’ve got some thinking to do and some decisions to make yet regarding the next album”
One thing’s for sure, though, Isolysis have gone from strength to strength since the recruitment of the ridiculously talented Wright and the confidence and sheer joy on display as they rattled through the five new songs was palpable.
Bane has never sounded in better voice and Beardsley, all effortless virtuosity combined with taste, feel and style is now, surely, the region’s finest unsigned guitarist.
They are back and coming to a venue near you soon. Be there or be shunned by friends and loved ones and laughed at in the streets.