Air Drawn Dagger - 'A Guide For Apparitions' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Hymn Of The Hag

2. Sanctifound

3. Sweatin'

4. Teeth

5. Skinwalkers

6. Cadavers

7. MaidenMotherCrone

8. Castle

9. Necromancer

10. Coma

11. Apparitions (ft. Tobi Duncan of Trash Boat)

12. Bellyaches

Sheffield based Air Drawn Dagger are about to release their debut album, the trio have been building momentum since they first started releasing music, having had support from BBC Introducing and even getting to curate their own stage at the Tramlines Festival Fringe.

They describe their music as electro-emo angst pop, but I think, personally they are more towards the rock end of the scale than the pop. They are a band who love imagery in their songs, focussing on the macabre, the supernatural and challenging perceptions.

At its heart though this is just an excellent debut album, with percussion which drives the songs on, brilliant use of keyboards and throbbing guitars all topped off with a vocalist who can really sing.

The album itself is out on the 4th of April on Long Branch Records. I previously reviewed their EP release, 'Songs To Fight The Gods To' which was very much a concept EP, this album has clearly also been thought long and hard about, it’s not a random collection of songs that the band thought sounded good. It’s the kind of album you need to listen closely to the lyrics while at the same time rocking out.

I’m not sure why they are so obsessed with witches, skin being removed, cadavers and the darker side of life but whatever has driven them there is something they should thank. They are fully bought into the scene they seem to be creating themselves, they are a bit emo, a bit rock, there is some pop at times, there is a surprisingly catchy number of chorus’s and there is just a drive, an ambition, a vision even that means they are not one of the crowd they are very much something unique, different and yet drawing on a number of different influences and genres to create something surprising, that you can jump to, you can dance to and you can find yourself drawn into in a way that you probably didn’t expect.

Air Drawn Dagger have been building a great reputation as a live band, they needed to back that up with the album, they have and them some. This is an album you should listen to if you are into emo, into rock, into great vocalists and if you want to jump about, because there are definitely elements of punk to this sound as well.

I’m not going to tell you which songs to listen to, which ones work better because this is the kind of album that deserves to be listened to as a body of work, which is very much how it’s been conceived.

This is the cult band you didn’t know you needed in your life but you absolutely do, if things keep developing as they have bebn they will soon burst out of being a cult and become wider known, I suspect they won’t tone down anything when that happens as they are clearly determined to do this on their own terms, no-one else’s, and when it’s this good why wouldn’t you? Air Drawn Dagger have created their own world and are inviting you in, don’t hesitate, enter it and discover what you’ve been missing.

Go listen, download, buy it and see them live. You won’t regret it.