The new FADES EP opens promisingly with ‘Breaking Through The Walls’ and ‘I’ve Been Away Too Long’. A weighty and slick production houses strong riffing that sways between classic and modern. FADES strength lies in their music; muscular and somewhere between Pearl Jam and Queens of the Stone Age. The dips into falsetto, dreamy interludes and stylised “oohs” and “yeah”s draw further comparisons to Josh Homme’s band of desert stalking outlaws. There’s no doubting lead vocalist and guitarist Joshua Woo has got his Homme impression down.

However, this is where FADES weakness lies. While the music itself is enjoyable, the excecution of the vocals lacks the emotion and conviction of the band’s influences. This continues on slow midpoint ‘Before My Eyes’ where the lyrics, including “I was a child, crying” and “the waves come over me”, are particularly turgid. If FADES were having a game of clichéd lyric bingo, it’s dangerously close to a full house.

Despite this, the twin guitar weaving of ‘Dog On A Leash’ is pretty great and the band match Royal Blood’s low slung swagger on ‘The Killing Floor’. The EP’s big finish, ‘Everybody Knows’ – their stab at ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’ – rounds off this solid if predictable effort with some impressive falsetto. If the vocal acrobatics in ‘Everybody Knows’ and the rest of the EP rang a little less hollow, FADES could have something great on their hands.

Breaking Through The Walls is released on 11th March.

Callum Sullivan