Album Review: Ligaments by Ligaments

Ligaments are a three piece punk rock band from London that formed in 2012. Featuring Nicola Itro on bass and vocals, Jake Maxwell on guitar and vocals and Zel Kaute on drums the band have just released a new self titled EP. Here is my review.

A song named Back Room Wall begins the EP. It's a track that starts off with some broken guitar work and some powerful drumming before a smooth clear vocal chimes in. The vocals in this song remind me of Alexisonfire, the clean vocals are joined with some raw, shouty style singing. It works excellently for Alexisonfire and works excellently for Ligaments. On Ligaments Facebook page the first band that they say is a influence on them is AFI. That's incredibly apparent on the second song Riptide. The song starts off quite slowly before a sudden drum roll and some Davey Havok-esque vocals kick in. This track takes you on a fantastic series of highs and lows, one second it's going full on balls to the wall style punk rock, then it slows down for a more tender moment then there is some great double bass moments before one hell of a finale with some excellent gang vocals. The third track is called Standards Of Taste And Decency and like the opening number features some ace dual vocals. The variation in the vocal styles really helps Ligaments stand out from many of the counterparts. The musicianship is first class as well, with all the bands different skills on display throughout. Straight To The Void has a strong psychobilly feel to it thanks to Nicola's great double bass playing. It really gives some extra life into the song and gives the whole feel of the EP a fresh coat of sound. Ligaments are not one trick ponies. The EP finishes with the song Whatever That Means. It was fairly obvious from the rest of the release that the EP would finish with a bang rather than a whimper and that is certainly the case. Played again in the psychobilly style it's probably the most catchy song on the release and probably the most radio friendly of the five songs.

Ligaments have come from nowhere and released a excellent EP. If you love your punk rock but want to try something a little different then Ligaments are a band I beg you to check out. Now I'm looking forward to catching them live some time.

Stream and buy Ligaments here: https://ligamentsband.bandcamp.com/ 

Like Ligaments here: https://www.facebook.com/Ligamentsband