North Seasons -

Eyes For The Blind

By Daniel King - 2 January 2015

Eyes For The Blind is the debut EP from melodic hardcore outfit North Seasons. Whilst I sit listening to this drinking a drop of port in a post Christmas hangover of sorts I feel that 2015 could be a great year for hardcore as a whole. A new Cancer Bats album is due out and hardcore seems to be drifting higher and higher up festival lineups. The fact that this is a debut EP shows that North Seasons have a lot to offer this growing genre, although at 6 tracks (plus a minute intro) it’s a pretty big EP. Oh by the way, did I mention it was recorded in one of their bedrooms? No? Oh, well it was. That’s gotta count for something. 

The debut single Silhouettes opens the EP and gives you just over minutes of both brutal breakdowns and harmonious choruses. A tricky mixture to nail regardless of where you’re recording, but they manage it here and also find a huge amount of energy to put into it. An impressive opening. 

A New World Order follows and takes the heavier elements of the opening track and builds on them. It feels as though vocalist Harvey Tuck gives every ounce of himself to this one and the Mattie Turner and Elias Jamous create a massive wall of sound with their guitars, ably backed by George Collins on bass and Kris Quinn pounding the drums. After a brief interlude for Bitter the EP gets back on track.

Good News follows and the vocals take a slightly more Gerard Way style. If the band are to take hardcore to the mainstream, I feel that this could be their most important track to on the EP. It has instant crossover appeal and would be an excellent ‘starter’ track for someone new to the scene. Never Forget This is deceiving throughout, powerful during the opening and containing a big breakdown, but more melodic than other parts of the EP during the chorus. This is one of the highlights in this short piece and leads nicely into the closing track, Eyes For The Blind. There isn’t much melodic about this closing track. It is hardcore through and through and a massive ending to the EP.

If North Seasons can back up on stage what they can do in their bedrooms they should have a bright future ahead of themselves. For now, get listening to them. This is a fantastic effort from the Newcastle based five piece and we hope to hear a lot more from them!