In Evil Hour – Lights Down

6th August 2017 0 By Suzie Rottencrotch

The North East has been in decline for years and there’s virtually no hope left. That’s not totally true, but it does give Darlington’s In Evil Hour plenty to shout about.

In fact the whole world gives In Evil Hour plenty to shout about. Their intelligent, political brand of punk has led to comparisons with Rise Against and their melodic leanings have been compared to Bad Religion.

Should In Evil Hour be mentioned in the same sentence as such behemoths of the genre?

Yes, they absolutely should.

Lights Down was officially released on the first day of Blackpool’s Rebellion Festival and there are fewer stages finer for a release party. Also there aren’t many bands who could play at 3:30pm on day one of a four day, multi-stage festival and see such an impressive turnout in the Empress Ballroom. Bands such as Ignite have failed to garner such a large audience in the same venue in recent years which is a real testament to the rise and rise of In Evil Hour.

Their intelligent, political brand of punk has led to comparisons with Rise AgainstTim Jones

In Evil Hour show no signs of mellowing with age either as Lights Out proves. Press play and you’re straight into Binding Ropes. It’s easy to see why the band are being compared to greats as this song has a feeling of familiarity that well-written, catchy songs always have.

And it doesn’t stop there. Enemy Within, Modern Detachment, Bitter and Paveway IV all show that In Evil Hour have an arsenal full of excellently-crafted tunes.

There’s plenty of woah-ohs for punk purists and there’s enough throat-tearing vocals and quality guitar riffs underpinned by crunching bass and perfectly-timed drums to stick a middle finger up at the “it’s only noise” naysayers. In Evil Hour are an extremely cohesive unit and there’s never any grandstanding.

We Are The Lost comes around too quickly and you’ll need to listen to the whole album a second time just to see if it’s as good as you thought first time around. Spoiler alert: it is.

In 20 years time another great punk band might emerge and someone might well say to them: “You sound like In Evil Hour”.

Reader album rating: [ratings]

Score: 9 out of 10