MarmozetsKnowing What You Know Now

Roadrunner Records
26th January, 2018
8
Wild, Massive, Wonderful

Spaces between heartbeats quickly shrink. Adrenaline rushes into the system. Body parts move involuntarily. This is the effect of hearing British post-hardcore young guns Marmozets.

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The band packed heat with their 2014 debut The Weird And Wonderful Marmozets, filling it with shredding guitars, massive hooks, and frontwoman Becca McIntyre’s distinctive howl. Four years later, no time is wasted getting to the hook, opening with Becca roaring “One, two, three, play!” before the first beat on album opener and first single Play.

There’s less of the scream that punctuated every line of their first big hit Why Do You Hate Me? Instead, her voice has become more powerful and dynamic; her ferocity still intact. She stretches notes to their limits on the gut-punching chorus of Habits, and spits each syllable in Major System Error with the same force and deadliness of a machine gun, exploding when she shrieks, “Can you keep it together?”

Knowing What You Know Now is a massive improvement on Marmozets’ excellent debut, showing massive growth in their wild and wonderful world.

Becca’s voice also showcases more vulnerability than before. She floats across lighter tracks like Insomnia, quivering, “I feel better with you”. That vulnerability turns to spite on the following track Lost In Translation. “I’m alone again/No one here to be my friend,” she barks, suggesting the object of her affections on the former has wronged her. Pairing the tracks side-by-side is an excellent touch, telling the beginning and end of a story.

The new tunes are made to be played in bigger venues, surely influenced by their supporting Muse on tour. Gil Norton’s (Foo Fighters, Pixies, Echo And The Bunnymen) production has helped the band reach their higher ambitions, upgrading their sound from the playground scrap of their debut to a barroom pummelling.

The band’s spiky riffs and jittery rhythms have gained muscle, packing a bigger punch. They’re more intuitive, playing to serve Becca’s voice by going full-force on Start Again, pulling back on the spare Me You, or giving Like A Battery a strange bounce like a number from a musical showing the seedier side of La La Land, a comparison reinforced by a short piano interlude.

Knowing What You Know Now is a massive improvement on Marmozets’ excellent debut, showing massive growth in their wild and wonderful world. The band will surely rise to the next level, filling bigger venues with more fans to lose control to their mighty noise.

STICK THIS NEXT TO: Funeral For A Friend, Young Guns, WAAX
STANDOUT TRACKS: Major System Error, Play, Like A Battery




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