Dublin 5-piece, Able Archer, have been in and around the Dublin scene for a while now. They describe themselves as a ‘proper Rock band’ and it’s hard to improve upon that. They are very much a modern rock band that sit, comfortably I’d say, between the harder end of Alt Rock (e.g. The Enemy’s first album or Biffy Clyro) and the less meat n’ two veg Heavy Rock. It’s a style of music their compatriots, Kopek, are having a fair degree of success with and there seems no reason to me why Able Archer can’t follow in their slipstream.
‘GhostMaker’ comes hot on the heels of the successful and critically acclaimed ‘Bullets’ E.P. (the title track is especially strong) which showed a band comfortable to mix ferocious guitar with keyboards and modern sequencing. This isn’t new and can be overdone, and in fact IS being overdone a lot in the wake of Snow Patrol and The Killers. For my money both those bands have gone too far and play down the guitar too much, but Able Archer do not fall into that trap.
‘GhostMaker’ comes crashing out of your speakers from second 1 with the singer screaming ‘1,2,3,4..’ heralding insistent, breakneck guitar, bass and drums. What follows is a fantastically concise slice of top rocking, with just enough attention paid to the melodic side of things to give the song a hook. The vocals are refreshingly different; not screamed, not murmured, but thick and substantial and pleasing on the ear (well, this set of ears anyway). It is a more out and out straight-ahead rock song compared to anything on ‘Bullets’ but doesn’t feel like a departure, morelike the lads had something to get off their chests.
In short, great song, great band and another band I hope can keep it going and get their message heard above the din. Ghostmaker is released on itunes on 24th March.
