Ryders Creed – Lost Souls
Album review by; Mark
I've been following Ryders Creed since they first formed and being a huge fan of the band I was obviously excited to hear that they have a new album coming out soon, Lost Souls. My eagerness was slightly tempered by the fact that they have recently gone from a 5 piece band to a 4 piece, which did make me wonder whether this change would adversely affect the sound of the band.
Any fears I had were quickly allayed with the first listen through of the album. Whilst the sound has changed, this sounds like a more mature album and is definitely a positive step forward for Ryan, Rich, Lee and Myles.
The opening song, "Memories" sets the tone perfectly for the album, building well with a hard rock edge. This song lets you know what to expect from the rest of the album with lyrics that are easy to sing along to, a rhythm section which gets your body moving and guitar breaks which will want you asking for more.
This leads into "Unleashed", highlighting more driving guitar work from Myles and is a song I can see being a fan favourite live. The line "I have been unleashed" lends itself to being a great singalong line for an audience. This song definitely has "single" written all over it.
The next song is "Lost soul" which has already been released. Now this is one of my favourite tracks of all time, not just this album. The changes in tempo from verse to chorus from Richs’ bass line and Lees’ drums with Ryans’ lyrics make this a classic rock song.
The next track "New Beginning" is an instrumental and whilst it is beautiful musically I kept expecting it to break into a full song, with the feeling that this is one of those long intros from a Led Zeppelin song. The song acts as a breathing space in the album, giving the listener an opportunity to take stock of what they've just heard.
This leads into "Believer" which I find to be an interesting mix : the music feels quite sad and melancholy but the lyrics are extremely positive, a juxtaposition which took me a couple of plays to come to terms with. This is a song I can definitely see being the "now let's slow it down" track on a live set. The guitar solo from Myles is possibly my stand out solo from the album and just want it to go on and on. In years to come this could be the sort of track which gets re-released with orchestral backing.
The tempo of the album is brought back up with "Feel The Fear" which sounds a lot more like a song from their first album, although possibly a little slower than the upbeat songs on that album but with a greater sense of musical maturity. The tempo is maintained by "Chasing Dreams" which is another song which will translate well into a live surrounding with great lead ins to the chorus. A real foot tapper and head nodder.
"Meant To Be" starts with one of my personal bugbears : a quietly spoken intro. The years of abuse that my ears have taken at rock and metal gigs mean that I spend too much time trying to hear what's being said over the top of deep bass lines. But then the guitar kicks in, then it slows down, and builds up again, taking you on a roller coaster through the track.
"Cut Me Down" strikes me as reminiscent of "On The Road" from the first album and is the next single to be released. This didn't strike me as being a stand out song in the way that the earlier tracks were but definitely deserves its place on the album.
Next comes "Hand In Hand" with a masterful distorted guitar intro which would make Scott Holiday happy and which made this reviewer smile and ask for more. This is a real hard driving song with the guitar and backing vocals getting the listener to nod along whether they want to or not.
The last song on the album "Money" is another with a very upbeat start and leads into a tempo I expect from the songs on the first album with Lee letting loose on the drums. But again this is a song which feels more polished than those from before.
Overall I think this is a superb album with no filler and one which all hangs together very well. There seems to be less of Richs’ bass evident than I'd expect, and Lees’ drums seem much less prominent, but overall I feel this leads to a much more balanced sound with all of the elements complementing each other. This comes across as a more thoughtful album than the first and that's not a criticism of the first album which I love. The lyrics from Ryan are masterful and well crafted with no rock cliches phrases or mindless fillers and the guitar work from Myles has so many great riffs and hooks. As a second album this is a big step forward for the band and shows a band who are honing their craft and developing their own sound and style.
This is going to be on in my car for a long time! Not an album which I'll get a speeding ticket because of, but one I'll be singing away to like a madman.
https://www.ryderscreed.co.uk/lost-souls-pre-order
​
“Cut Me Down” Single Purchase Link: https://backl.ink/135743536
“Lost Souls” Album Purchase Link: https://backl.ink/127194898
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArkNBHqJgN8&feature=youtu.be
RYDERS CREED:
Ryan Antony - Vocals
Myles Cooper - Guitar & Vocals
Richard Clark - Bass & Vocals
Lee Gilbert - Drums & Vocals
​
Socials:
Website - https://www.ryderscreed.co.uk
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RydersCreed/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ryderscreed
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/ryderscreed
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/0rVptwBrd8Me7TdiDpZ5bv?si=q3uyY4T6SKGH6vWE2y5kZQ
