Liverpool rockets ThisIsWar are set to release their debut EP this Friday 21st April.
Rotten consists of 5 songs, which showcases the musical talent within the band, from hard hitting punk rockers through to melodic stripped back acoustic songs.
ThisIsWar formed in late 2021 and consist of Paul Carden on vocals, Mike Mullard on Guitar and backing vocals, Jonny Roberts on guitar (Mike and Jonny swap between playing Lead and Rhythm on different tracks), Andy Williams on Bass and Martyn Leah on Drums.
The band spent 2022 releasing a single per month, all of which were anthems and driven by catchy guitar hooks, rumbling bass lines and thunderous drumming, with a vocal performance being right up there with anything you’ve heard. During 2022, they built up a loyal fan base which saw ThisIsWar achieve 15k monthly followers on Spotify, through word of mouth and being championed by football pundit Jamie Carragher.
As with last year’s releases, The Rotten EP has been mixed by The Verve’s Si Jones and sound engineer Andy Fernihough at Faktory Studios and the legendary Crash Studios. ThisIsWar have also been signed to Jersey based Bubblebrain Records as momentum continues to build for the Liverpool band.
Here is the ThisIsTheMusic track by track preview.
The EP starts off with the title track Rotten, which opens up with a gentle acoustic guitar before exploding into life with thunderous drumming and edgy bass lines that gives the song a real punk vibe. It’s a real powerful and energetic track and is a real statement of intent from the band. The vocal is the focal point of the track, but it never overpowers the other musicians, there’s plenty of opportunity for the other instruments to shine and that’s shown on that glorious guitar hook.
No Pressure is an anthemic rocknroll track, with melodic guitar riffs and thundering drums. The vocal again is so powerful and the chorus is joyous, which will have you bouncing around when it’s played live. The guitar solo is captivating and one that you will want to listen to again and again.
Waves is full of funky bass lines, thumping drums and those ThisIsWar signature guitar riffs. It’s a big sound and on first listen this song quite simply blew me away.
Promised Land is a complete change from the band as it’s a chiming acoustic guitar led track. Whilst I absolutely love the big guitar riffs and pounding drums, it’s great to see the band show a different side to the obvious talent that exists through each member. You can feel the emotion pouring out of the vocal, backed with great harmonies. Lyrically it’s a tale of two friends moving onto pastures new, with one character almost pleasing to the other “promise that you’ll give a thought for us” as the other character moves onto the promised land.
Mona Lisa was released last year as a full band track and has amassed over 51k Spotify Streams since it’s release. Here the band have stripped it back as an acoustic track and shine a light on Paul’s monumental vocal, which has been well and truly achieved. This version of Mona Lisa is raw, full of honesty and filled with real emotion.
Rotten is a fantastic EP and is without doubt one of the best bodies of music you will hear in 2023. It’s got a bit of everything from the rousing punk influenced tracks, to stripped acoustic tracks. It’s an EP that will feature in top EP of the year list and will see the bands fan base grow even further.
Rotten is released on Friday 21st April across all streaming and download platforms.
ThisIsTheMusic 
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