Indie distortion spectacular
I'll be blunt and give my honest opinion. I didn't like the lyrics. They kind of said everything you've ever heard before by the local bands you went to see when you were bored on a Saturday night. Aside from a very strong vocal prowess by singer/guitarist David Mapson, there's nothing too special about the words. But the music was enough to claw GoldSoul back from the brink of being paused so I could get back to an episode of the X-Files. The band's drummer Brady Denton really knows how to keep a beat going so GoldSoul's bassist Darren Pegg and guitarist Mapson can intricately intermingle a ferocious "bum-ba-dum-baa-da" and a sweetly distorted "wah-ba-da-wa-paaa." Long standing indie rhythms are combined with some serious metallic power to ensure the band's single 'Blood Red' and their b-side 'Waiting a Lifetime' complement each other quite well.
Counterfeit Magazine recently stated that, "GoldSoul sound like the ensuing chaos that would occur if you threw Iggy Pop and BRMC in a padded room with nothing but a six string and a big fucking amp". I'm not too sure I agree with this. Yes, there is an underlying chaotic quality to GoldSoul's music that speaks of quick romances with proto-punk in the dingiest back room of a club, but a mix of Iggy and BRMC I'm not so sure of. And while a padded cell might be the best place for whoever wrote the band's lyrics, the music has been produced to the extent that both the A side and B side have a light airy quality to them, as if the band is playing to their most hardcore fans at an outdoor festival populated by longhaired alcoholics in their fifties and musically die-hard teenagers who keep their best ear permanently pricked upward to pick up the faintest trace of the "Next Big Thing".
The Barnsley based three piece has already amassed a string of accomplishments such as being tipped as the NME's "Unsigned Ones-to-Watch" back in 2010, playing at the BBC's Electric Proms and composing music for film (which is always thought to be an arduous task). Hell, GoldSoul have even supported Hatcham Social, The Boxer Rebellion and Columbia records sweethearts, Twisted Wheel. Those kind of accomplishments don't go unnoticed. So here at RoomThirteen, I'm letting it be known that GoldSoul have got good things coming to them on the horizon, and that's why you should at least attempt to listen to this single.