A while back, I received a copy of the debut Peace’d Out record. With what could only be described as rabid excitement, I pressed play and turned my headphones up fucking loud. It was around then that it dawned on me how awesome a prospect I Am The Avalanche’s Vinnie Caruana and Rx Bandits’ Steve Choi being in a band was and is.
Primarily an exercise in technical rock, Peace’d Out sees Caruana’s vocal in full gritty mode, and the guitar work throughout is predictably excellent. The Rx Bandits influence rings true in the instrumentation, but the progressive elements are paired with hardcore and post-hardcore beats here rather than the ska punk roots of Choi’s main body of work. The production on the record is gorgeous, fitting the band perfectly, and the synth and noise elements that are introduced are delivered tastefully as they appear. It’s a straight up rock-the-fuck-out EP, and there is and never will be anything wrong with that.
The strangest thing about the EP is that the tracks aren’t actually all that long – which actually ends up being one of the most refreshing things about it. It’s all over in barely ten minutes, and it seems unlikely that the band have done that by accident. It’s the perfect length to entice people to see Peace’d Out live, and many will be gagging for a full length after this fairly brief introduction.
This debut release from the “supergroup” is right up there with the finest EPs that you’ll hear from anyone this year, and it’s Very, very much worth checking out. We can only hope for a UK jaunt sometime in the next year or so, but this will have to do us for now while we salivate over a full length.
TOM AYLOTT