U.K. modern post-hardcore duo Denials turn despair into triumph on captivating debut EP.
Denials – Past Lives
The COVID lockdowns affected us all in one way or another, but in the case of Denials, those periods of reluctant contemplation ultimately helped bring Steve White and Lee Crimes back together after a six-year hiatus. Previously part of the U.K. rock troupe Through Colour, who were active between 2008 and 2014 and shared stages up and down the country with the likes of Enter Shikari and The Ataris, White and Crimes’ collective creative fires suddenly became too hot to dispel, and so Denials has arisen.
‘We’re a very honest band playing a genre of music that inspired us to pick up instruments and become a vocalist in the first place. An early 00s post-hardcore sound with a modern spin.’ – Steve White
Forging artistic contentment and a sense of self-fulfilment and mental rehabilitation, the band’s debut EP, Past Lives, features eighteen minutes of 00s-inspired post-hardcore but with a modern slant, taking the best moments of scene setters such as Glassjaw, Thursday and Saosin, with an additional fluttering of British contemporaries Funeral for a Friend and Hell Is For Heroes, while adding a whole lot of exuberant originality to cement a triumphant return for the musicians in focus here.
The EP’s title track and the post-rock feel of ‘Sin’ feed off atmospheric guitars and blistering rhythm sections- all the instrumentation performed by the tour de force that is Lee Crimes, whose umpteen riffs and drum patterns allow White the freedom to use every aspect of his vocal capabilities to document his struggles with mental health, as well as reflecting upon family life.
His finest moment of many high points arguably comes on ‘Serenity’, a musically enthralling number which includes one of the most poignant lines of White’s lyrical contributions. ‘This life will be the death of me, trying to find serenity,’ he sings despairingly, but if you think Past Lives only details a mindset of all hope being lost then think again, because the therapy coming from being able to create music once again has more than allowed White to address any negativity and turn it into all-conquering positivity. ‘I try to drain out all the bits of doubt, ‘cause I wanna get better,’ he adds with newfound optimism on the heavy and urgent closer ‘Weights’, many of his words coming from notes the vocalist made during the lockdowns when Denials wasn’t even close to coming to fruition.
Do not expect the aggression and intensity of the original era of post-hardcore because instead, you get a refined sound allowing unhindered creative expression, further bolstered by Bob Cooper’s mixing work to help the EP sound absolutely huge, which in turn only strengthens Denials’ case for having produced one of the finest releases of 2022.
Denials have used their previous musical experience to create a stunning EP which is as good as anything you will hear in and around the post-hardcore genre for a long time to come
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Words Matt Karpe
