For the first 30 seconds of ‘Never Said’, I actually thought I’d stumbled across something really special. The First‘s first riff is very Fastlane-esque and, to be honest, there aren’t enough bands who rock like bastards yet maintain some corking melodies. Sadly, after that initial 30-second blast, the song drifts off a little into Funeral For A Friend-lite territory. The chrous picks up enough to hold interest, but the potential which is clearly there is not followed up on and The First just drift back into the pack of wannabe ‘big’ UK bands.
Don’t get me wrong, The First aren’t a bad band, I just don’t think their sound is quite good enough to make a large-scale impact. They’ve supported bands like Dopamine and ThisGirl in their time and list influences as bands like TBS and Thrice and it’s clear these bands have played their part along The First‘s musical journey. But I’d also like to see and hear some of their own talents – the vocals aren’t quite strong enough and, well, I just think it needs a bit more balls to it too. Not a bad 3-tracker, but certainly room for improvement.