There is a Chick Rides Artist EP that’s been on my ipod shuffle for a couple of years now that made quite a good soundtrack for the gym. I stuck it on today to make a comparison between their efforts then and new release “Live.Strut.Die” and immediately I got filthy looks from my puppy. The difference between these two offerings however is remarkable. The earlier EP was a middle of the road piece of metalcore which isn’t all that inspiring. However I’ve not been able to turn off Live.Strut.Die since downloading it (legally for FREE from livestrutdie.com). Chick Ride Artist have managed to find a niche, taking a vocal style including Enter Shikari’s recent work and At The Drive In’s higher notes, then taking their ambient sound and throwing letlive’s raw energy, no mean feat. Not without it’s flaws though, if anything Chick Rides Artist seem to be attempting to bundle too many ideas into just three tracks, but that criticism is clutching at straws for something negative to say. In the two years since that EP their sound is no longer generic and the vocals have cleaned up along with the production. If only I was still going to the gym, this would be on a constant loop. Invariably it’s a more mature record for a band that have worked on their sound, and I’d expect to be hearing a lot more about Chick Rides Artist in the coming year.
7/10
