Lucky enough to get as far as they deserve?
Anything with Colin Doran, Richie Mills and the bassist from A is likely to be a delight to listen to. Or so they'd have us believe. The Lucky Nine are, in fact, a five piece band who rock with a speed and agility previously unheard of in Hundred Reasons music. In the same way that Funeral For A Friend don't need to dip down into haunting ballads to display emotion, The Lucky Nine are all about providing a happy medium between speed and emotion.
Whereas 'Hibernate' kickstarts this EP with the type of radio-friendly, heavy rock you'd expect, 'Jornada' begins with an angelic croon and offers a medium paced slide into the kind of rock that the music channels should be filled with if there was a god. This audacity may well come from the fact that three members of The Lucky Nine have already had a taste of what's to come and so, unblinded, they can focus more on the music itself.
Both 'We, The Possessed' and 'Three Killers' continue to show off the shining blend of melody and vicious speed, with 'Three Killers' twisting and turning within itself. Unsettling at the best of times, even without Colin Doran's exotic mix of rabid shouts and pained croons. Fading off into the strongest track on the album, all thoughts of speed vanish. 'The Programmed' is the kind of song you long to hear as a b-side, understated yet so much better than the actual single- a treat to uncover. Relying on a deviously heavy beat, 'The Programmed' cries out for you to dance along whilst trying to mimic the madman shouts of Colin. Perhaps it might be prudent to obey because this is the kind of dark rock that, if given half the chance, will infiltrate your radio.