Past Five - 'Detox.' EP Review

Tracklist:

1. Playing With Fire (When Your Friends Are Enemies)

2. Kryptonite

3. God Forbid

4. Close To The Exit

Swedish Post-Punk/Alt-Metal five-piece Past Five have released their second EP 'Detox.', their first release since 2016 debut EP 'Somewhere Between Serenity And Rage'.

The EP starts out strong with ‘Playing With Fire (When Your Friends Are Enemies)’. It quickly establishes the fairly unique sound of the band and a level of energy that is maintained throughout the entirety of 'Detox'. ‘Playing With Fire (When Your Friends Are Enemies)’ has a strong melodic hook, especially within Jonathan Wallin’s clean, soaring vocals that pair well with the frantic guitar work from Walin, Jonathan Yderhag and Simon Hellgren, and the driving drums provided by Jerri Lassinniemi, it serves as a good introduction to the band and what they set out to achieve.

Second track ‘Kryptonite’, in my eyes, suffers from a little bit of an identity crisis, moving from crooning and heartfelt to heavy in an instant. It’s not necessarily a bad song, it still sounds great, every member of the band gives their all and the phenomenal production from Christian Silver, each section of the song is great in its own right, but is a case of too much of a good thing and doesn’t necessarily gel well together. I feel Past Five would have done better splitting this song in two and expanding on each half.

‘God Forbid’ follows ‘Kryptonite’ in a more cohesive manner, and blends the emotional vocals with heavier elements better, as they are kept together as opposed to being separated. This track, in my eyes, holds the best guitar work, with some incredible soloing and riffs throughout, and an extremely solid bassline from Alexander Orlov in the verses. To me, this is the kind of song that holds most promise for the Swedes.

The closing track ‘Close To The Exit’ follows ‘God Forbid’ perfectly, and is perhaps the most energetic on ‘Detox.’, and with that is potentially the heaviest. I feel Wallin’s vocals really shine in this song, especially in the moments that he pushes himself to the edge. The song also includes an incredible breakdown that leads into an equally incredible solo. There is a great amount of power to it, and might just be my favourite track on the EP.

I’d say ‘Detox.’ is an extremely solid effort for a band still finding their footing, I’d definitely recommend keeping your eyes on these up and comers. Past Five have managed to produce an extremely professional release with loads of promise, especially within their lyrical content ranging from addiction to suicide, and ultimately a conquering of these toxic destructive situations and relationships. It’s not without its faults and issues, but these can be easily overlooked.