We were fortunate enough to be sent VALA’s first single “Thrown To The Floor” by their lead singer, Joe. We’d like to start our review by thanking Joe for sending this our way. Here goes!
The song starts off with a nice intro, a good bit of guitar and drums – a very nice guitar lick by the way. The build up just shortly after had us thinking it would be kicking off with a nice guitar riff, but alas it did not. The vocals were anti-climatic for this kind of build up. The band self styles themselves as a “rock” band but it is clear from this track they are not, they are more “indie-pop” than rock. That kind of misplaced genre labelling is like calling Van Halen a “heavy metal band” – they’re rock. It’s just not true. But anyway, on that note – we weren’t sure if the lyrics “Hit the ground running” in the chorus was a nod to Van Halen. Judging by the sound and feel of this song, it’s definitely not. The track itself is very bass heavy and the lyrics of the song are pretty industry standard, as indeed the structure and styling of the overall song – this song has ended up adding to an over-saturated market in the music industry.
There is some kind of breakdown after the first minute, only to have a completely different feel for the chorus. We were expecting some kind of guitar solo to follow along from the intro – but this wasn’t the case, we just had more of the same. The vocals towards the end were pretty well done though.
We were sent a link to their “official video” – at first you’re immediately certain this is VALA’s video as their band logo is right at the centre of the shot. We have seen this kind of logo with many other bands that sound and look very similar across the UK. Jack Grindrod made a visual masterpiece however, the scenic shots throughout the video were excellent and we are confident that Jack has a clear future in filming and directing music videos. It’s just a shame that this song sounds more of the same all of us tend to hear at many live venues across the UK. In other words – “Nice video, shame about the song”.
Overall it is a well mixed piece of music – it’s worth listening to if you’re into the indie scene. Otherwise it’s just more of the same.
You can follow VALA on Facebook, Instagram and their website.
You can also listen to VALA’s debut single “Thrown To The Floor” on Spotify and iTunes.
Call That Music? 