REVIEW ROUND-UP: Fangclub, Stand Still, Tether. | The Soundboard (2024)

Fangclub

All Good

If you’ve been keeping tabs on Fangclub lately…well, you’ve not had much of a job. It’s been basically radio silence since 2019’s Vulture Culture, their best album but also not one that proceeded to blow any doors open. Obviously—they’ve been off the radar for half a decade! It’s also not precisely shocking, when they occupy the same grunge-revival space as Dinosaur Pile-Up, another act that have proven largely easy to pay no mind to over the years. So, in a way, it’s a bit refreshing to see this restart bearing a title like All Good. At least it feels as though Fangclub are coming into this from a place of optimism, rather than naively attempting a jumpstart on what’s already dead on arrival.

Plus, an EP is a more manageable way to facilitate this sort of comeback. Five songs to properly nail down what you want is ideal, and handy when Fangclub’s style really hasn’t broadened that much. And yeah, their Britrock-informed grunge still isn’t the most electrifying thing in the world, but it’s good to see their increased tightening of it has remained firm. Attention and Natural are right on par with where Fangclub should be, and by extension, the higher floors of their remit that All Good are striving to climb to. Insanely solid stuff all the way down is about as good as Fangclub can deliver, as they parlay a creative energy built for straightforward, pounding rock music into this tight form.

On the other hand, the ‘simple to a fault’ ethos of Fangclub can be viewed just as much as a criticism. It was more prevalent in their earlier days before they’d properly grown into it, but now, there’s the burrowing impression that an evolving climate has left them too far behind. They still feel like an act from 2019 and before, in a simplicity that might not otherwise gel with what’s going on around them. ‘Solid’ is an assertion that stands most proudly on its grading curve, which is where Fangclub find the most comfort overall. If All Good remains okay in context, having nothing else nearby is the catalyst for some real liftoff.

Granted, divorcing a five-track package from literally every other sonic stimulus around it to get the most from it is easier said than done, and even then, doesn’t seem like the most economical practice. But hey, it could be worse. At least Fangclub do still stand on their own as it is; there’s never a crushing low to be found here. If they’re looking to re-kick something off, All Good is about as much as anyone could expect, generally tilting towards the more positive end of estimations. It’ll be a minor miracle if Fangclub see new heights if this is the direction their second wind is continuing in, but it also won’t be objectionable to have them stick around. The title’s just about right, in that case.

For fans of: Dinosaur Pile-Up, Tigercub, Sick Joy

‘All Good’ by Fangclub is released on 14th June on Headwire Records.

Stand Still

Steps Ascending

So it looks as if this breed of Long Island almost-hardcore is becoming a little bit of a thing, eh? And just like Koyo last year, Stand Still arrive with a remarkable proclivity for nailing it early on with Steps Ascending. Maybe it’s something about the passion this scene fosters, but the bar has been set pretty darn high already, and the fact that abject newcomers like this are still rising to the standard shrieks out with promise. Like, Stand Still are arriving with basically no hype or anticipation from outside of the loop, and can still wipe the floor with the majority of pop-punk currently out there. By anyone’s metric, that’s not too bad.

What really helps Stand Still out is how this central approach is nowhere close to wearing out its welcome yet. What amounts to a hardcore band so unashamedly on a pop-punk wavelength still feels ridiculously fresh and cool, without a frill or trimming needed to make it so. Even on the most straight-laced approximation of the style on In My Blood or Tower Of Gold, Stand Still have the grit and churn that’s like two boulders smashing and grinding into one another to remain firm. It’s almost like the 2000s’ proto-easycore in a way, albeit with more emo seasoning to taste. In other words, the path already paved and lit for them is leading Stand Still in precisely its designated—and correct—direction.

Maybe in a way, then, it’s not quite as lightning-in-a-bottle brilliant as Koyo’s own go, but not through anything that can be called a ‘fault’. Steps Ascending is wall-to-wall solid in what it’s doing, and continues to facilitate a lot of what’s great about this sound. Gerry Windus has the brash vocals and lyricism that ensure the edges stay hard among the melodies. Meanwhile, there’s not a touch of unnecessary gloss or nips and tucks to be found; the feel of a grubby, bruised hardcore album is plastered across the thing. Even the tradition of spreading the Long Island love hasn’t gone amiss, in guest spots from Crime In Stereo’s Kristan Hallbert and Pain In Truth’s Michael Smith for garnish on Dust and We Know The Score respectively. Neither add anything all that substantive, but it’s the same vibe as pulling a pal onstage at a basem*nt show to shout along for a bit—big and communal, whenever you can be.

And regardless of any perception of innovation or where it needs to be applied, Stand Still are hitting hard and fast by just doing what they’re doing. Theirs is a corner of punk that’s been routinely wringing out every drop of potential it has, and no different can be said about Steps Ascending. It has the attitude and hardscrabble tenacity that’s always appreciated as is, but moulding it into what’s quickly becoming the sound to keep an eye on really turns things up a notch. Make no mistake, with what’s already ahead and waiting, Stand Still are doing the total opposite of what their name suggests.

For fans of: Koyo, One Step Closer, Anxious

‘Still Ascending’ by Stand Still is released on 14th June on DAZE Style.

Tether.

Mirror Work

A plethora of new, enthusiastic post-hardcore types plays home to Tether., of which they too seem to be almost impossibly auspicious straight from the jump. Here’s a band with the right fusion of Bring Me The Horizon, SeeYouSpaceCowboy and Every Time I Die to really be turning some heads, and promptly snapping them off with the cumulative horsepower of that pool of influences. Yep, it’s another one of these—picking up the baton left by Static Dress outgrowing their nascency, Tether. are more or less good to go already.

If you’re expecting early-run hitches or the ever-nebulous claim of ‘promise to be realised’, that’s not really what Tether. are about. This is fully formed and ready to roll, in a significant way. Production is immaculate and bladelike; performances are phenomenally vicious; the size of what’s being reached for barely ever feels out of their grasp. All of that, plus the fact that this is a debut release from a band just about cracking outside their home circuits. That’s impressive, right? And it’s not like Tether. become overwhelmed with the abilities and resources at their disposal. Where some would pile on the work for an expensive-sounding but ultimately ugly mess, Mirror Work never breaks focus. Even for an absolute left turn like Break Your Tether—the bar-none most melody-driven song with some blatant cues from 2010s Britrock—the commonalities on display make it clear that it’s less an anomaly, and more another string on an extreme well-endowed bow.

To be fair, it’s also the most variety that comes on this EP, though don’t take that as any kind of knock. Sure, it’d be nice if Tether. wanted to stretch their legs a bit more, but with how wide they’re already swinging, it might compromise their integrity a bit too much. As it is now, with turbocharged axes swinging across Meet Me Where The Sun Touches The Sea and Obey The Circle, and an ear for slugging metalcore grooves on Hollywood Trauma, they’re not wanting for more. Plus, Justin Jackson is simply a terrific vocalist for this sort of thing, with the brutally thin, razor-voiced showing that’s the technique of choice for most great hardcore-smiths. As a conveyance of utter contempt for societal ills and torturous mental states, it’s a proven winner with no difference here.

So, yeah, that’s Tether.—have at it! What else is there to really to say besides that? As the newest propagators of post-hardcore’s blazing streak, you basically know what you’re getting, and you basically know how good it is. And maybe that’d be an issue if this were a more restrained, cut-and-dry outing…but it’s not. Like all great hardcore, Tether. can absolutely thrive through sheer force of will and their ability to batter and cleave their way through it. As far as they go on Mirror Work, there are no complaints.

For fans of: Static Dress, SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Love Is Noise

‘Mirror Work’ by Tether. is released on 20th June.

Words by Luke Nuttall