The walls will be reverberating once Living to Write the End hits your stereo. The second album from alternative rockers These Four Walls will be exploding your aural senses and detonating every fibre of your being. And you will enjoy this scene of self-destruction. Living to Write the End is a fantastic collection of thirteen twenty-first century post-punk songs. These Four Walls are the messengers delivering a package of beautiful melancholy, wrapped in severely addictive rock.
It launches into ‘Talons’, with quick guitars and drums making the heart race. Singer Steve Gibb has slick vocals, rich and gorgeous and divinely melodised throughout the album. He slides between heartfelt harmonies and the intensity of his screams with ease. The lead single ‘Passenger’ has already been making waves across the scene, and I highly recommend checking out their acoustic version on Youtube. If you have any doubts about the talent of this band this version of the song will certainly lay them to rest.
‘The True Sound of Running’ is pulsating rock at its finest, with stunning guitars that drive the power of the song. Living to Write the End swings across poetic lyrics whether in the tormented ‘Saints and Sinners’ and ‘Settle Up’ or the new romanticism of ‘Eyes’ and the sentimental ‘Satellite.’ ‘Dead Air’ is haunting, and the screams of ‘Beautiful’ are profound. The album is produced with rock precision. Every inch of the music is finely crafted and it works seamlessly. You can hear this in the stunning track ‘Rain,’ a concoction of the coldness yet comforting sensations of the downpour. ’From Cover to Cover’ and ‘Burning Rope’ make a drop-dead gorgeous conclusion to the album as two expressive rock ballads.
I am not ashamed to say it- I loved the rock that emerged from early this century. If you like Seether and AFI, Chevelle and Blindside, The Butterfly Effect, Spineshank and Taproot, you will not be able to get enough of this album. Thank heavens this melodic angst is making its way back to us. There is still the little punk inside me, that angry little girl afraid of the world, who is thrilled she can be consoled with luscious alternative rock a decade after its hey-day. Living to Write the End is world-class. This band has a universal flavour, and I hope they truly make their mark in the international alternative scene. These Four Walls will certainly not be constrained. The band are here to rock out and tear these walls down.
-Janise
These Four Walls are a hard rock band originally formed in Auckland, New Zealand and now based on Queensland’s Gold Coast. They’ve recorded and released two full-length albums, Down Falls an Empire (2009) and Living to Write the End (2012), with their third album This Is Not A Future due for release on 24 April, 2020.
The band are well-known in both Australia and New Zealand for their live shows, which are typically tight, heavy and high-powered performances punctuated by powerful melodic vocals from singer Steve Gibb. Their well-earned reputation as a powerhouse live act has earned the band support slots for several touring international acts including Disturbed (USA), Nickelback (CAN), Trivium (USA), Seether (SA), P.O.D. (USA), Fuel (USA), Theory of A Deadman (CAN) and Trapt (USA), as well as top Australian rock acts Karnivool and The Butterfly Effect, and Kiwi bands such as Devilskin and Blacklistt.