Last year Amplifier released an excellent debut rock album that should have attracted far more attention and sales than it did. In this scenario there is always the temptation to ‘dumb down’ and move to sonically more poppy pastures to attract radio airplay. Not so for Amplifier. This six-track EP (that plays for as long as most albums) takes a more experimental rock route

Sel Balamir (guitar and vocals), Neil Mahoney (bass), and Matt Brobin (drums) have created a rock album that deserves to be heard by anyone with a hint of adventure in their music taste buds. The album title pretty well gives the game away, and if it doesn’t the first track, Continuum, certainly does. The galactic electronic sounds build as drums start a distant beat and guitars play a different sound. Suddenly the whole box of dice is exposed in a bombarding heavy rock rush, as though the spacecraft has landed in your back yard. Belamir’s vocal is suitably echoed as it tracks a strong underlying melody. It’s a cracking, epic, nine-minute track with the dark drumming of Brobin taking a pivotal role. Into The Space Age takes less time to make itself heard as it races from hush to a full-on rock sound. It’s a little more conventional and tinged with a metal vibe with Brobin again leading the hunt. The guitar riffs are both original and highly skilled, the melody is strong, and the vocal a faithful follower. It’s another mind-bending, epic track that adds clever changes of pace to its formidable sonic arsenal. For Marcia opens with a longish instrumental passage that casts a compelling spell. The pace is slower and more threatening aided by a great, echoed and contemplative Belamir vocal. A building bass line and scary electronic sounds (like something out of Flash Gordon) introduces The Brain Room with drums and guitars going at a frantic, heart-stopping pace before a laconic Everyday Combat reveals itself. Live Human ends the album with an extended silence before a beautiful semi-acoustic secret track emerges.

In releasing this EP Amplifier has shown itself to be a more thoughtful and original band than any of the newer (and several well-established) UK bands. For fans this remains a delectable heavy rock feast, while it should tempt others looking for something more adventurous and of greater import. Essential.

4.5/5