ETHANOL 58: Ethanol 58 EP

By Alistar Wickens

After reading Ethanol 58’s bio and checking out the CD packaging I was expecting just another local hardcore band; they seem to be popping up everywhere these days. I was happily blown away by what I heard when I pressed ‘play’ on this little gem. Instead of generic hardcore and screamy vocals, my ears were treated to four tracks of melodic goodness. Sure there’s semi-hardcore riffs in there, but it tends to swing between shredding metal licks and ballad-type material, and they do it all so well. The vocals had me thinking of Incubus, back when they were good, but that doesn’t quite do it justice; singer Chris has a distinctive and strong voice that really suits the music he’s singing over. In some ways it’s not a surprise that these guys play so tightly together and write good songs – they all met, and formed the band at music school. But not everyone who goes through music school manages to achieve what these guys have. My only complaint is that four songs wasn’t nearly enough.

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NZ Musician

February/March 2010