Feast by Fizzy Blood (EP)

Fizzy Blood, “the snottier cooler younger brothers of Muse”

On their new EP ‘Feast’, Leeds quintet Fizzy Blood let you gorge yourself upon their unique and infectious punk qualities

espite having been together for only a year, Leeds quintet Fizzy Blood have already received the honour of a personal invitation to tour with American hardcore legends Dead Kennedys. You’d be mistaken, though, if you thought that would make them clones of Jello Biafra’s boys.

That much is obvious from opener Black Sheep, which starts with a watery melody, before melting into a riff as seedy as Nick Cave’s post-punk heroes The Birthday Party. The pre-chorus and chorus, though, are where Fizzy Blood lay down their musical marker. Mixing the punked-up psychobilly of cult Brighton act The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and the soaring rock of Muse, it’s a glorious fusion that shouldn’t work at all, but gives Fizzy Blood a quality that’s both unique and infectious.

If that doesn’t get your punk senses tingling then January Sun certainly will. A post-punk number that becomes a furious post-hardcore firecracker in its middle, it’s tuneful enough to weasel its way onto Radio 1 but aggressive enough to earn column inches in Kerrang! Slither carries on that approach before Cue To Leave brings a spacey ambience to the mix. If you’ve had the fortitude to get this far then Patience will treat you kindly, as it again pushes Matt Bellamy’s more grizzled qualities through a punk sieve. Queen Of Hearts then ends affairs in a blistering tone that will leave you breathless and reaching for the repeat button.

Though six tracks is pushing it as an EP – with mini-album seeming a more fitting term – Feast is neither overblown nor light on its ideas. And with Fizzy Blood having a clear vision of themselves – as the snottier, cooler younger brothers of Muse, but less hedonistic cousins of The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – it’s brimming with freshness and purpose. All this means that Feast could become an unexpected crossover record, one that’s palatable enough for the mainstream, yet hardcore enough for the underground.

Verdict: Punk, with a twist of Bellamy

Damien Girling

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