Helllllllooo!
Well folks, alt-metal is alive and well in the hands of Echovalve. Still creating mega-bucks in the US of A (aka ‘The Land That Time Forgot’ when it comes to all things classic rock) Echovalve should fit in very nicely indeed with their contemporaries such as Disturbed, Shinedown etc and many hundreds of bands in the same vein which the Wal-Mart generation of America love so well. Me included!
Already a bunch of hard rockin amigos, the path to rock enlightenment has not been so smooth. Echovalve have been plagued with the usual excess of drug and alcohol addictions, with one alleged member of the band declared clinically dead following a drug overdose (he lived to tell the tale no doubt in a good old fashioned blues song!!! ‘’Didnt wake up this morninn, Doc said I was dead...)
Anywho, what we have is a hard rocking band similar in sound to my current faves, Alter Bridge, throwing in more than an equal measure of Californian rockers, Incubus. Listen to the heartfelt lyrics, and you get a band that has dragged the depths of the bottom of the pit of despair and risen high above the ashes, with most of the songs bearing their souls of their angst ridden past lives, none more so than on the opener ‘Si Quieres’. This is from a band that has lived (and died).
First single from the album is the highly impressive ‘Dirty, Little Secret’ a mix of early grunge and Creed. ‘Loathe To Remember’ is straight out of the Incubus back catalogue, a song of proggy passages and tight musicianship, and is another great contender to follow up as second single. The whole album has undoubtedly been a huge cathartic experience from the band such is the openness and honesty of the songwriting. There isn’t a single let-up in the quality of songs on offer, all have punchy riffs, pounding rhythms, but not sacrificing the melodic quality for a single second. They have a great singer in Matthieu Nevitt
As far as debuts go, then ‘Helloagaingoodbye’ is an accomplished set of songs which really shouldn’t have been written by such a young band. Echovalve are mature beyond their years. I feel that it will unfortunately pass with a whimper on the east side of the Atlantic, but should be picked up by the FM rock radio circuit in the US with the ferocity of a cyclone. This is the music that will be lapped up in droves as this band has a voice which deserves to be heard