THE WINTER TRADITION-Firelight CD-EP

The band formerly known as The Void, now reborn and revitalised, come back with one absolute pearler of a lead track that mixes the whole nine yards of power, punch, dynamics, warmth and expansion on three minutes that pass all too quickly. It starts with a hail of cleanly riffing guitars and pounding rhythms before it all drops back to reveal a lone lead vocal against stripped down backing and then all of a sudden this gorgeous expanse of multi-voice harmonies provides the heart of the track for a brief moment of breathtaking beauty before the harmonies are injected with acres of guitars, the rhythms stride out and the multi-tracked vocals rise even higher, then drop back dramatically before the whole thing starts its cycle all over again, the effect so fantastic that you're actually not aware of just what a simple arrangement they're playing, as the track just fills every space around. The harmonies acts as hook, the vocals full of deep feeling passion, the guitars ringing out and riffing in, the rhythm section simply ploughing the musical furrows to act as foundations on which this mass of guitars and vocals provide a song without any real chorus or verse structure, but a song that simply cannot fail to suck you in to its charms and chimes. “Tracoseven” is a more balladic affair initially as what sounds like an almost orchestral arrangement set against a distant river of feedback guitar, is set underneath this upfront, impassioned vocal that sets the scene in song, a piano sliding up and down the scales with grace and fervour, as the arrangement is joined by gently crashing cymbals and deep bass. It's a most haunting, hypnotic number and really hooks you in, so totally different from the opener, that you really are entranced by what you're hearing once you get over the contrast in styles. Finally, there's “Only A Matter Of...” which returns to the scene set by “Firelight”, again opening with salvo of guitar-led riffing, only this time the rhythms are choppier as the accented Scottish vocals take what's a soaring, rising song into a cloudburst of guitars and dramatic rhythms, the arrangements dropping back and rising up for optimum effect as the song is sung with passion, lead vocals and harmonies providing a series of hooks and a sea of verses that are truly stunning, against a backdrop of wall-to-wall guitars and driving rhythms, truly another stunner of a track from a band that you just have to hear as the phoenix rises inexorably.

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