BELFAST band The Crossfire Hurricanes have served up an irresistible helping of psychedelic rock 'n roll with their latest track Romancing Revolution, the lead song from their upcoming EP.
There is an intense buzz about this band at the moment and on the strength of this new material it's easy to see why their star is starting to shine brightly. The Crossfire Hurricanes' line-up of Brendan McGreevy, Pol Mead, Owen Duffy and Niall Kelly is one that seems to effortlessly click, which is an enviable achievement with all four members' respective talents seeming to assume a central role. Their music carries that rare quality where you can actually hear 'the band' as a tight unit with each musician passionately staking their claim.
Romancing Revolution is a stunner – a full-on trippy rock groove laced with killer guitar licks from Pol and a powerful venomous vocal from Brendan. Add to that Owen's earth-shattering drum fills and Niall's bone-shaking bass and the result is a heavy, heady mixture that would make a tee totaler drunk in 30 seconds.
Every band has influences, subconscious or otherwise and with the Crossfires' I can thankfully hear some profound respect thrown to the glory days of The Verve (one of my all-time favourite bands so I'll happily eat it up) and there is maybe also a tinge of The Black Crowes kicking around deep within their blues-infused indie rock 'n roll persona.
The band's first official release, The Deviant, stirred up quite the storm and along came subsequent quality tunes such as Morning After Showdown, Hold On To Me and the one that really caught my attention, Miss Confusion.
However, Romancing Revolution sounds like these guys have taken their craft and their performance to the next level. You can investigate them for yourself as the band are holding the official launch of the new EP at Aether & Echo on December 11.
The night promises to be a memorable one for Northern Ireland's music scene as well as the perfect opportunity to witness the revolution in a live setting. This is definitely a band to watch and if there is any justice in the highly complex world of the record industry they should also be promptly heading for glory days of their own.
Very few acts manage to possess substance, style and swagger – The Crossfire Hurricanes have all three in abundance.
