Deadlocked – 10 songs and 10 times with full force on the… ears. Reverse delivers with their current EP “Deadlocked” a short record that drives and is settled somewhere between punk rock / screamo, grunge and influences of metal.

But wait a minute… 10 songs and an EP? Yes, because the record is divided into two parts. Like many other bands, the “Ruhrpottler” of Reverse, got creative during the pandemic and offer the fans, additional to the original six songs, four bonus tracks. Part one was self-produced and part two is the 4-track compensation bonus, for an improper celebrated release – “Thanks Corona!” The latter part was already recorded in 2017 at Kurt Ebelhäuser (among others Donots – Coma Chameleon), but recently re-recorded and remixed.

But let’s start from the top: Briefly cleared throat and off it goes with the frontal attack on the vocal chords. 2:18 min runtime for the EP opener “Bored” and thus directly a statement is set. We don’t cuddle – rough, hard, angry and perhaps vocally a bit crude, but that’s what makes it. Reverse want to whoop it up and establish their attitude right away. “Omen” follows and is only a tad bit less angry than track 1, although the vocals in the beginning are a little, let’s call it “laid-back”. But then the vocal lips clench violently and crunch, quite in Reverse-manner, in unison with the guitars through the rest of the song.

“Goodbye” is a farewell song in hard punk garb, which probably would trigger a circle pit live and also is a short workout for band and audience with its 2:17min. But there are not only punches directly on the kisser – “Bitter Sweet” shows a calmer side and strings. The not so heavily distorted and effects overlaid guitars, meet with the distinctive voice and add up to a really interesting soundscape.

“At the Edge Of The World” is probably the most grunge-like song, which already almost seems radio conform and provides some intermediate elements of good variety over the runtime of 3:16 min. The Unofficial final song of the EP “Suicidal Happiness“, is a snotty, angry track that is played fast and driving and pauses only briefly – letting us catch our breath just for a second to then shred on with full energy towards the end.

And then there would be the B-side, the bonus side from “Distress&Control“, which despite the hard playing and singing style seems more affable and mature, but not necessarily better – just a bit different. The enormously hard, almost dirty and raw sound suits the band very well. Nevertheless, a good idea to pack these B-tracks with it – The tracks “Haunted Heart“, “Harley’s Smile” and “Fake” remind us somewhat of Nirvana‘s “Bleach” and Refused‘s “Everlasting” and thus somehow of grunge and hardcore, but now in snotty angry.

A.Y.N. stands for “Are You Ninja”. The title could not be more aptly chosen for the “fathers of Ninja Rock”, a style mix in Rock’n Roll, which is located somewhere between Stonerrock, Blues and Grunge. The EP includes a total of four elaborately produced tracks, all of which were recorded and produced by Martin William Ross (vocals, guitar) and Piergiorgio Ciarla aka PJ (drums, vocals). The very accentuated precise playing of guitar and drums, as well as the sonorous voice with high recognition value, harmonize very well across all songs. This high-quality produced record combines in itself the most diverse moods.

With “Go“, the first track, you get the feeling that this track was written for festivals. It is not only perfect as an EP opener, but also for every live stage. It immediately pulls you into its rhythmic spell and you catch yourself, how not only your foot starts to bob in time, but your whole body wants to maneuver itself in the direction of a dance floor, to give there the rusted dance moves to the best. “Go” also directly delivers a small homage to their formative time in France. A female computer voice counts in the song in French – a nice interpretation of the classic beat. Go is peppered with many small, but very purposefully used sound fragments. So you hear here not only harmonically adjusted guitar effects like flanger, chorus and reverb, which support an almost synthetic guitar crunch, also the play with reverb and EQ fit perfectly on the vocals and thus round off the sound carpet. The entertaining 3:17 min are rounded off with the initially established computer voice, which bids us farewell with À bientôt (See you soon!), before it moves on to the next track without a long break.

In keeping with the song name, “Apocalypse Boogie” opens more somberly. Wind sweeps through the land, a Zippo® click and a short pull on the butt epochally introduce this 3:28 min excursion that sometimes reminds us of the great combo Muse. With this song they are in no way inferior to the great band in musical sophistication. Driving beat, cheeky vocal accents, here and there a few supporting sound effects and guitar riffs that carry through the song and provide with shrill slides again and again for artistic accents.

With “Chemical Courage” you immediately feel transported to one of those typical American movie bars. The song fits incredibly well with a tracking shot past dark figures playing pool, a grim looking bearded rocker sipping his drink at the bar, fogged by thick smoke and a couple of guys hitting on the tattooed hotties. And in the background, elevated on stage: “Rival Karma” performing this song. Fits like a glove! Blues and Southern Rock elements paired with dirty guitar sound and distorted voice make the song very atmospheric and increases with each new section. From long drawn out single notes to the grande finale, which consists of a sound firework of several guitar tracks and drums.

Song No 4: “Wasting time” could be described as the good mood number of the record, which leads through the good 4 min with clap elements, a clear voice and a somewhat more discreet guitar in the first verse. Equipped with a progressive intermediate part and a break that could not be better placed, this song ends the EP worthy – fulminant.

“Is this the End of the world or is this just the beginning? “, Martin asks in “Apocalypse Boogie”. For us to answer quite clearly: The Beginning!