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▒ release information for : ▒
░ SHVPES-Greater_Than-WEB-2018-ENTiTLED ░
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artist.....: SHVPES
title......: Greater Than
label......: Spinefarm Records UK
genre......: Rock
rip date...: 2018-11-08
retail date: 2018-11-09
runtime....: 40:41
tracks.....: 12
size.......: 94.1MB
quality....: 320kbps 44.1kHz
codec......: MP3 (MPEG-2 Audio Layer III)
encoder....: LAME
url........: play.google.com
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▒ track list ▒
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░ 01. Calloused Hands 03:12 ░
░ 02. Undertones 04:01 ░
░ 03. Afterlife 04:07 ░
░ 04. Someone Else 03:37 ░
░ 05. Two Wrongs, No Rights 01:44 ░
░ 06. Rain 03:04 ░
░ 07. War 03:43 ░
░ 08. Renegades 03:49 ░
░ 09. Hey Brother 03:50 ░
░ 10. I'm Stuck 01:41 ░
░ 11. Note To Cell 04:08 ░
░ 12. Counterfeit 03:45 ░
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▒ release notes ▒
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░ ░
It's been a whirlwind couple of years for the genre-defying
SHVPES, but in 2018, the band have truly arrived. After taking
their beginnings as tech-metal upstarts and joining forces with
enigmatic frontman Griffin Dickinson on vocals for their highly-
praised 2016 debut 'Pain. Joy. Ecstasy. Despair.', SHVPES rode
the wave of acclaim that rapidly attached itself to their name.
Armed with a refreshingly ambitious and daringly experimental
brand of schizophrenic noise, they stood out from the infinite
crowd of carbon-copy metallers like a sore thumb. And in no time
at all, the Birmingham-based five-piece - completed by
guitarist/vocalist Ryan Hamilton, guitarist Youssef Ashraf,
bassist Grant Leo Knight and drummer Harry Jennings - found
themselves sprawled across the pages of rock's most prestigious
magazines, accumulating thousands of views on their electrifying
videos, and supporting their favourite bands on the road. <>
wanted a piece of the action. Despite the jaw-dropping hype that
surrounded the budding SHVPES in these two years, though, the
group found themselves struck with the realisation that they
hadn't fully unlocked their true potential. "I remember there
being a dawning point," the multitalented Griffin explains of the
lightbulb moment they experienced following the release of 'Pain.
Joy. Ecstasy. Despair.'. "It just felt like we had something
missing. We were saying: 'That doesn't represent our talent.' We
weren't as proud of it as we wanted to be." And so, rather than
coasting on the external triumph of 'Pain. Joy. Ecstasy.
Despair.', SHVPES put their heads down with a newfound
determination, and set to work on the full-length's follow-up.
"Straight away, it was like, 'We need to make a better album -
this obviously hasn't hit the spot,'" Griffin remembers. "We want
to make something that we're over the moon with." The band
assembled in the picturesque surroundings of Snowdonia, Wales,
and this is where they began forming their greatest songs to
date. As is the way when you're encompassed by a group of
highly-skilled musicians, the quintet weren't short of crisp
concepts for the tunes that would go on to mark the next era of
SHVPES. "We had <> many musical ideas," Griffin smiles proudly.
"And we had a bunch of songs that we were like, 'Let's not try
and turn something that's 70 per cent good into something that's
amazing; let's go with something that's 100 per cent good and
build on it.'" Taking inspiration from iconic hip-hop duo Run The
Jewels, hardcore-meets-soul mob THE FEVER 333, legendary rap-
rockers Limp Bizkit and everything in-between, SHVPES then united
once more with producer Jim Pinder to nail down a more musically
cohesive - but no less breath-taking - iteration of their sound.
Thematically, too, SHVPES' brains were working overtime when they
rolled up to the Treehouse Studios in Chesterfield to start
recording album number two. Having collectively dealt with enough
hardships to last an entire lifetime over the past couple of
years - robberies, infidelities, violence, addiction, anxiety and
depression - they bravely opened up in a way few would dare to.
"We wanted to shine an honest and authentic look at how we dealt
with it all, even if that meant it was an imperfect example of
things," Griffin reveals. The perfect example of the band's
fearless candour comes in the form of 'Someone Else', a scathing
insight "inside the mind of someone who's been cheated on". Not
only does the track come wrapped up in the kind of rage you'd
expect from The Incredible Hulk, it also sees SHVPES proving that
honesty really is the best policy. "We wanted to give an example
of real thoughts," Griffin states. "It's got all that anger and
resentment that goes into your mind when you're that pissed off.
It's cutthroat, and that's how it's supposed to be. It was one of
the most brutal things to go through in life." The same can be
said of the fiery 'Counterfeit', too. An uncompromising barrage
of rapping, monstrous riffs and a chorus that even the most
established of songwriters would envy, it shines a vivid light on
the personal difficulties SHVPES have faced. "It's a very
personal song about being robbed," Griffin sighs. "It's very
angry, but it's almost delivered with a smile. It's trying to
make the best out of a bad situation." Needless to say, equipped
with such a belligerent retaliation to these thieves, SHVPES are
having the last laugh. Combine SHVPES' formidable attitude with
their mind-blowing fusion of hip-hop, metal, alternative rock and
urban elements (as well four beautiful vocal cameos from Rosanne
Hamilton, Ryan's sister), and you've got colossal bangers like
'Two Wrongs, No Rights', lead single 'Undertones', 'Renegades'
and the explosive 'Calloused Hands'. It's music for those who
aren't afraid of embracing a little eccentricity, and SHVPES know
it probably won't be for those with vanilla tastes. "What we've
done is somewhat bold, but I'm not worried about people getting
pissed off - they can take it or leave it. A lot of people are
going to absolutely love it," Griffin says with total poise. And
for the through-and-through metalheads, there's still plenty to
hold on to. Namely: a genius collaboration with one of SHVPES'
biggest inspirations, Matt Heafy of Trivium, on the song 'Rain'.
"It was cool to stick him on the most metal track, but put him
completely out of his comfort zone on a rap section," Griffin
grins. "That just seemed like the perfect part, because we didn't
want to give him a screamy-shouty verse, we wanted to do
something a bit different. We put about 10 takes of him on there,
so we've got this vocal gang monster!" A release overflowing with
such ambition deserves a title to match, then. That's why the
band have opted for the symbol for 'greater than'; not only
because the figure itself plays off the old-school mixtape vibe
SHVPES are working towards aesthetically, but because this album
is surely set to take the band to the next level. "We realised
that if we put out another album that was only a bit better than
the last one, it would probably be the end," Griffin admits of
the release, which will, in a brilliantly unconventional way, be
dropping in the form of three separate mixtapes throughout 2018,
before collating itself into a full record. "We'd be maybe
touring the UK once or twice a year, and playing some small club
shows, and I don't want to do that. I want this to be my life."
Griffin needn't worry. What SHVPES have created will catapult
them into the elite leagues they've been preparing themselves for
since the very start. And not only will '>' consume their lives
in this fearless new chapter; it could well take over your life,
too.
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▒ greetings ▒
░ ░
░ Shout out to all of those who keep the dream of the scene alive. ░
Special thanks to those who have paved the way and parted.
We miss you!