Lodges is a young four piece hailing from Paris and founded on the ashes of Donkey Punch. A few line-up changes later, the band decided to go forward and recorded a first 6-tracks EP with lots of ambitions. While their previous sound was metallic hardcore-oriented, the band didn’t change their identity so much but they added a bit more professionalism and a grittier tone to their new material. Walking On Hands And Knees is their first EP under the name Lodges and it’s as dark as we could expect.

Opening track ‘Downward’ is filled with animosity. The furious drumbeats are doing the job well while the cavernous vocals tops it all. ‘Walls’ sounds like a flood. The lead singer spits his rage and his powerful and harsh vocals really add consistency to the tracks. The bands slightly differs from its past sound by his more chaotic and noisy approach but the energy remains the same (the aptly named ‘Swarm’). Hats off to the production, quite rare for a first release. The guitar sound is for the most part hostile and rough (‘Thrust’). ‘Hole in the ears’, the last (bonus) track, is actually an older song from the Donkey Punch era and concludes this whole thing in some kind of a wink to the band’s past and future.

A compact and nervous hardcore punk sound, a real strength on vocals, a hateful and sinister approach: these are the elements that this short but hope-nourishing first EP contains. Lodges is a band that certainly can claim a place and become one of the French modern hardcore flagships in the years to come. This now needs to be proved on stages. The EP was released on November 30th by Straight And Alert, Swarm Of Nails and Enjoyment Records, and can be streamed on their bandcamp.

Track list – Lodges:

1. Downward
2. Wall
3. Void/Vice
4. Swarm
5. Thrust
6. Hole in the ears (Bonus Track)

Lodges: Facebook / Twitter / Bandcamp

Written by Alex Tabankia