The duo of Sean Harmanis (Make Them Suffer) and Scott Kay (Voyager, Statues) have revealed their most recent musical endeavor in the form of Onslow via Greyscale Records. The project sports a wide variety of genres and influences for a successful take on that mixture, and I’ve had the pleasure of exploring that variety to produce this review. Their introduction to the scene came with the drop of the lead single off the newly released self-titled EP. This first take was “Let Me Rust”, which sports instrumentals that are equal parts grunge and shoegaze. An inspiration clear as day is Loathe’s 2020 record, I Let it In And It Took Everything, in that the instrumental composition sounds like it could be straight off of that album. Despite that, its more upbeat nature juxtaposes Sean’s vicious lyrics to produce a solid track.
The opener of “Saving Face” is quite similar in sound; it and “Let Me Rust” are the most similar duo on the EP to boot. Sean’s vocal delivery, however, is more patient and stripped back. Where I think that makes the song stand out, the instrumentation is noticeably less engaging than its counterpart. One saving grace is the bridge in which Sean is not present at all, and the switch-up in instrumental style makes for the best moment on the track.
“Gauze” was another single, and one that surprised me. Prior to this dropping, I had fully expected prior that the EP would be a love letter to Loathe’s aforementioned release. However, “Gauze” is more like something off of Trophy Eyes’ The American Dream. That’s right, anthemic pop rock vocals are scattered all over this track. Gauze is also perhaps the biggest show of alt-rock influence, even though it is indeed a factor throughout the EP. Sean gets to stretch the ability of his voice, too, with varying degrees of sung vocals as well as backing screams. Only during the bridge does the song revert to the project’s more shoegaze influences. Lastly, the lyrics are worth mentioning, as they are direct, sweet, and catchy.
I want to like “Limbs”; Sean is one of my favorite vocalists in music right now, and the track continues the great performances by the group, but the track screams “middling” to me. It doesn’t strive to do anything interesting with its heavy handed influences, whereas the rest of the EP does so with good faith. The production on this track also seems of a different variety than the rest of the group, what with all the reverb and muddled guitars.
“Freddie Mercury” closes the project, and it is an undisputable high point on the album as well. The slow ramp of the track along with Sean’s haunting vocals and lyrics are assisted by some quaint keys at the quarter mark – a hint of how it goes through stages. The song feels personal in the way you want all songs to feel, and the lead-up to the crescendo is so well done, that perhaps the song is aptly named, due to the sheer larger-than-life factor attributed to Queen. The back half is scattered with Sean’s screams which drives homes the song’s message and intensity without taking away that peaceful feel it starts out with.
Bands like Deftones, Loathe, Radiohead, and Trophy Eyes all rear their respective heads as influences on Onslow’s self-titled debut. And although that might strip some interest, as well as make the project seem disjointed, it allows the band members to throw themselves into these influences to produce a true love letter to what made them the musicians that they are today. An outlet that lets artists Sean Harmanis and Scott Kay do what they do best is an outlet worth having, and makes Onslow more than worth checking out.
6.5/10