“The Devil’s here, drew from my blood, fueled by your call.“
GEL have been on the long march. Between a touring schedule that is seeing them cover every blade of grass either side of the Atlantic and a release cycle that has seem them release quality material year after year, it does finally seem like those strides are paying off for the New Jersey unit. Defining their sound on earworm riffs and Kaiser‘s distinct growls, along with their modern twist and outlook on the hardcore punk sound, embracing an almost motivational and acceptance narrative to their sound.
With their debut full-length Only Constant cementing this, which also lead to a much deserved uptick in their popularity, it seemed any new material in 2024 from GEL might be a longshot. Yet sticking to a seemingly principle of being relentless, GEL are not letting a year pass without new material, and this year’s offering comes in EP Persona. And while it does continue to present the sound that many have come to embrace, GEL have added a twang to their sound to give it that slight difference from what has come before.
Persona opens up boldly with it’s title track, attitude filled riffs that will rumble a crowd awake into a mosh. The eyebrow raising moment on “Persona” will be trading of vocals between Kaiser and Webster, giving an extra roar to GEL‘s vocal prowess. As the EP moves into “Martyr“, the tweak in production becomes slightly more evident too. The fuzzier and reverbed sound that was present on Shock Therapy is leaned into, while maintaining the punchier approach that Only Constant took.
“Shame” looks to further cement GEL‘s earworm riffs and grooves, in each aspect, as the chorus yells “If you gonna play the victim, play it all you want”, followed up by backing vocals of “So beat it”. The chorus hooks itself into the ear and is no doubt one that Kaiser will see many shout back into the mic if or when performed live. Closer “Mirage” amplifies this, toe-tapping beats and riffs to shimmy to, it’s an overload of catchiness that sees Kaiser bark “I’ll draw a devil on the wall“.
What Persona sees is a further refinement of GEL‘s sound, neatly balancing the production and sound between that of Only Constant and Shock Therapy. Presenting the punchiness and angst of their full-length, while allowing the punk-esque fuzzy mix to bleed into their sound once again. Outside of that, GEL once again offer up lyrics and hooks that will capture, and further proving with both their output and quality, they’re one of the best around.
8/10
Persona is set to release August 16th via Blue Grape, and can be pre-ordered here.