Basement sound like they’re from California but this slick emo / rock band are actually from Ipswich.

Their music is a commercial take on the old emo sound — it reminded us of now-defunct Farewell My Enemy and bands of that ilk — who set the scene for bands such as Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance and Taking Back Sunday (and latterly, English band Calls Landing, which included Congleton’s Charlie Thomas).

Basement take the underground sound and turn it commercial, so much so that in places it goes a bit Foo Fighters, and it is more straight-up rock than any subgenre of emo.

The opener was a single, so is instantly catchy, Disconnect pairing the emo verses with a stadium-pleasing chorus, which is pretty much how the album goes. Be Here Now — not an Oasis cover — opens with a Foo/emo blend, with Taylor Hawkins-style drums and a Foos melody and riff coupled with a more underground feel in the vocals and overall sound. Less catchy than the opener, it’s a better song.

Songs like Nothing Left repeat that Foos/cult blend, while they do slower songs just as well, with songs like Changing Lane, a mid-album track that gives the listener a change of pace before Stigmata kicks back in the loud. Expect hugeness.

 

Support your local record shop! If you’ve not got one, support us (an independent newspaper) and buy this from here: