I think the jury is still out on Marwood. They play a brand of pop punk that’s more Polar Bear Club than All Time Low, which is absolutely fine, but the gruff vocals and some of the guitar parts just seem to be thrown in to try and make them sound more credible than a natural sound. I like what the band are trying to do and for that you have to give them credit, but some of the ideas just don’t seem to work all that well. ‘I Still Miss Rigby’s’, for example, has a nice, melodic vocal which at times just goes a bit throaty, almost as if the band felt the need to do it to sound a bit more authentic. It’s not the only song where things sound a bit strange – some of the guitar riffs sound great on their own, but they veer off track a little bit during the songs. The backing vocals sound a bit weird in places too, again as if they were thrown in as an afterthought. There’s no doubt Marwood are on the right lines and I’d rather listen to a band try and do something a bit different than copy the bands Kerrang! cover, but the ideas need a bit more spit and polish to perfect them. EP number two will show us whether the band have the talent to transfer a good idea on paper to a decent attempt on tape.
