Six Twos are back and I get to review more punk. I love punk: the attitude prevalent in the playing, the dystopian predictions for our collective future, the jaundiced view of our present, and the sneer by which it all gets packaged into an uncompromising, non-conforming one.

These guys do this well. I am reviewing the focus single to a new EP release, in fact, called Facades. The single is titled Something Good.

The EP in total, and Something Good in particular, are about the uneasiness creeping into our subconscious as our society is starting to rip asunder in front of our very eyes. The feeling that we’re being corralled and observed while it’s being perpetuated – by whoever is perpetuating it so insidiously – and monitored to such a degree that our very lives are forfeit if we look too closely in the wrong (or is it the right?) direction. It’s very thought-provoking, and the lyrics have been crafted to demand we consider them.

To the track itself. It starts with an aggressively rumbly early Joy Division bass line that puts me in mind of that band’s famous early single Shadow Play. Hooky‘s bass line there is the stuff of punk folklore, and this intro stands up to the comparison. The guitars pop into the mix, and are wonderfully muddy and fuzzy, and that’s where any Joy Division comparisons end. Lead riffs and solos sit atop this and are set with a mix of effects that deliver a cleaner but equally snarly result. Excellent stuff!

As the guitars layer nicely for the chorus we also get a more intense bottom end. Crashes and fills help elevate the chorus, which is what we want them to do with this genre. The vocal is very nice. While being able to hold a very decent tune indeed, we’re treated to an angry, haunting timbre presenting us with a fey, emotive melody rising in intensity for those choruses.

Definitely one for the live shows, but I see this also as something that would sit as the soundtrack to a worlds-end type of movie or mini-series. It’s got that special zing about it. I hope the band is looking into this kind of publishing licenses, because it could be really lucrative and the song is good enough to hold its own anywhere, frankly.

One could try to find term of reference with any one of the plethora of punk acts out there, but I don’t want to. This is very well crafted, worked in the studio and delivered at the end. The EP is out on Spotify already and I can tell you it’s an absolute belter. Give Six Twos some love. Go stick it on your playlist!