Friday 18 March 2016

Xilla - You Crawl



The 'nu-grunge' revival that's been kicking off around the UK is a bit of a misnomer. Bands like Fizzy Blood and Dinosaur Pile-Up take more from fuzzin' up the power chord pop of 90s alt-rock bands like Weezer and Presidents Of The United States Of America, rather than following in the footsteps of the intricate, sludge style riffs that Alice In Chains and Soundgarden managed to compose so easily. Birmingham band Xilla may label themselves as progressive rock, but on their debut single You Crawl, they come across as spiritual successors to the slower and more driving style of grunge that the Big Seattle Four popularised.


Hooking you in with their staccato and chunky palm muted riffs, Xilla chooses not to explode but to groove stylishly into You Crawl, the off-beat, synchronised drum beat adding a jarring edge to the guitars. It's really reminiscent of bands like Quicksand and Helmet, grinding out off-beat and off-kilter riffs, complementing them with interesting and unorthodox rhythms. The band chooses to keep a relatively downbeat tempo for most of the song, creating a lot of dynamic tension between their sludgy riffs and upbeat, poppy chorus. And that chorus is the absolute highlight of the track. With catchy, slightly discordant harmonies in the style of Stayley/Cantrell from Alice In Chains, and political lyrics delivered with the same bite and sneer of Tool's Maynard James Keenan - albeit lyrically, Xilla are a little bit more blunt than Keenan's cryptic writings - You Crawl is loaded with seething anger, bubbling underneath the slime. The anger explodes into a wah-heavy solo towards the end of the track, before heading back into one final, triumphant chorus. Although You Crawl clocks in at six minutes and nineteen seconds, there's not a lot to trim out here; the band make every riff work and deserve its place in the composition, and it's a solid first time offering from Xilla. It's great; few bands at the minute sound like they do, and Xilla are able to draw their influences together to create something that sounds at once similar and incredibly new. The band are recording their debut album at the minute, and if You Crawl is anything to go off, I'm excited to see what they can come up with next.

Check it out in the video below, and have a look on Xilla's Facebook page to see if they're gigging anywhere near you soon. https://www.facebook.com/Xillaband/?fref=ts


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