REVIEW: Bastions – ‘Badfellows Part 2: The Forgotten Daughter’

January 27th, 2014

Kriston McConnell

Artist: Bastions
Album: Badfellows Part 2: The Forgotten Daughter
Genre: Hardcore
Label: Holy Roar Records

Today’s hardcore was born from punk rock. It began in the 1970s when punk bands started taking a more aggressive and heavier approach to their music. Though the hardcore sound isn’t quite the same as it was back then, there are still plenty of musicians who utilize a lot of those same elements to craft their music. It also seems that as of late, there has been an influx of hardcore artists hitting the scene who have gone back to the roots of hardcore and are producing songs that are very reminiscent of old school punk. Artists like Heart In Hand, Hopes and many, many more.

Bastions are one of those up and coming hardcore bands. The quartet are based out of the UK, and are currently signed to Holy Roar Records. They are releasing their five track EP, Badfellows Part 2: The Forgotten Daughter, January 27. As the title of their EP suggests, this is the second installment of a two-part EP. The first one, Badfellows: The Bastard Son, was released in February of last year.

Badfellows Part 2: The Forgotten Daughter opens with “Empty Vessel.” This is my personal favorite song on the album. It has a great opening with just the drums and guitars playing together before the vocals kick in. This is also the one song that I think has the best and most unique rhythm to it. Unlike other recent hardcore bands, these guys strictly only utilize the harsh yelling vocals. I personally prefer to hear the harsher screams like that.

“Foreign Bodies” is the shortest, and most punk sounding track on the EP. It’s that high energy, fast-paced song that will make you want to get up and hardcore dance in the pit. A couple of songs later though, they take an entirely different direction and have the slowest track closing out the EP. “Murmuring” starts with a slow, distorted guitar riff and shortly after is joined by just the lead vocalist. The drums and bass are slowly added in afterward, and the song continues on its slow journey to wrap up the album. This is probably my second favorite track on the EP. Though it has a rather slow pace, it has the most emotion and passion behind the singing and lyrics.

While I did find the EP enjoyable overall, I did not find myself particularly excited about it. They definitely have some great things going on in their music, and I would love to see them experiment more with the vocals. As long as they continue to develop dynamic songs they will surely grow in popularity.

SCORE 7.5/10
Review written by Kriston McConnell

From Badfellows: The Bastard Son