Kane Fulton

The first thing I noticed about The Little Explorer promo sleeve was the atmospheric, flickering scene on the front. A series of houses, severe and angular in structure look oddly nightmarish in the surrounding darkness. It reminded me of a cross between an old Playstation game 'Silent Hill', and a snow scene out of 'The Nightmare before Christmas'. If the accompanying audio was to be any part as intriguing as the cover art, then a very special CD had just landed on my doorstep.

Thankfully, the music doesn't disappoint. 'The Little Explorer' echo some of my favourite post-hardcore outfits, from Biffy Clyro to Hell is For Heroes. 'Chair Legs' introduces the listener to the 'Explorer' sound, a classic combination of angular, clean/crunchy guitar driven riffage. It's over 2 minutes before the vocals come in, but the preceding instrumentation is that captivating that at no point does the music seem to drag. The structure twists and summersaults, riffs are broken down and reintroduced to the point where verses aren't clearly defined. 'Chair Legs' is the tasty treat, a sample of the full flavour The Little Explorer have to offer.

'air! displace this smoke' begins with a chunky riff reminiscent of the song 'Kamichi' by aforementioned band Hell Is For Heroes, but that's where the similarities stop. 'air!' is a more mellow track, juxtaposing dual, sliding guitar lines with understated vocals. The two tracks on offer here have a complexity and intriguingness not found in many of today's 'emo' orientated bands. There is more than enough to keep the listener interested, and perhaps if the vocals had just slightly more 'oompf', just so they matched the intensity of the instruments, 'The Little Explorer' would be a very powerful outfit indeed.

Rating:

8/10

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