Bastions – Bedfellows: The Forgotten Daughter (Holy Roar Records)
Bastions are just one of the British hardcore bands who are finally doing something different. They don’t just do a youth crew rip off, and they don’t just repeat the same mopey melodic hardcore either. Instead Bastions have the incentive to find a space in-between melodic and ‘beatdown’ hardcore. Their 2013 release Bedfellows: The Bastard Son was a slather of emotional aggression; just under a year later they’ve released its sibling EP, Bedfellows: The Forgotten Daughter.
In a way the two EPs show both sides of Bastions. The first EP showed Bastion’s fangs. It got in your face and screamed at you till you cried. The second EP however takes a more melodic approach. It’s more like watching someone have a mental breakdown in front of you. It’s the same intensity and level of emotion, delivered in a completely different way. You have to give credit to a band that can make you both want to smash everything in the room and cry in the corner.
There are only 5 tracks, but all are consistent and griping. The strong opening ‘Empty Vessel’ has great build up of adrenaline, which the following track ‘Foreign Bodies’ releases well by being the fastest and thrash-iest track on the EP. The solemn ‘Mother’s Ruin’ is one of the strongest, with it’s change from pure riffs and hurt filled screams to a melodic ending. The guest vocals and alternative structure for ‘The Watchtower’ make for a good change of pace. The EP closes with the agony filled ‘Murmuring’, a bold melodic track that reminds you exactly how bleak Bastions can be.
A band this bold and creative should not go unnoticed. The Bedfellows EP as a whole are conceptual, clever, very well put together as well as being morbid and bleak. This record, which is filled with the feeling of hopelessness, could actually be a new hope for hardcore.
Jack King
Freelance Music Journalist And Photographer 