3 Track Promotional CD

Gripshift is a Progressive Metal/Rock band hailing from the United Kingdom. The band formed in 2004 and since then released two demo’s and an EP. I am reviewing the band’s second demo, which was released in 2007. The demo consists of three tracks, “Dress Up the Outside”, “Did I Lie?” and Settle the Score” and clocks in at roughly 13 minutes.

First up is “Did I Lie”. The song starts with a technical guitar riff, before a heavy chugging riff takes over and the vocals kick in. This riff makes up the major part of the song, but there are short bursts of technical guitar work popping up to contrast the heavy majority of the song. A strong opener, because this is a track that has that certain sort of quality that makes you tap your feet and bop your head unconsciously. I was doubting the progressive tag after hearing the first track, but “Dress Up the Outside” made up for that. The song is centred around a technical, albeit still pretty heavy, riff and has that typical progressive metal rhythm. “Settle the Score” starts as a somewhat more straightforward Heavy Metal song, without complex riffs but a nice driving rhythm. But some technical playing does make an appearance near the end of the song.

The vocals are handled by Luci Thomas, who has a clean style of singing and a voice that is quite typical for a Heavy Metal or Hard Rock band.

The band’s playing is tight, as is to be expected seeing a great deal of the band members have been involved in music for many years. The production is also great, making this demo a nice treat.

The band also send me their new promotional single “Read Between the Lines”, which would fit in with the songs on the demo without a problem. Although the song is a continuation of the sound displayed on the demo, there is one distinct difference seeing the band uses a lot more calm passages in the song.

In conclusion: Gripshift delivered some decent and highly enjoyable songs. I hope to hear some more of them in the future.