Rule one of being in a band is that if you can’t sing, don’t. I hate ripping bands to shreds, but I’m sorry Daniel Smith, you can’t sing. I hate bands that try and mask the fact their singer can’t sing by not pushing themselves or cutting notes short. Church and Destroy do this throughout. The title track is just absolutely awful. The weird thing is that it’s the first song on the EP which is usually the first impression a listener gets. Why the band have that song first I have no idea as it sets things off so badly – the vocal performance is appalling and the song is, frankly, crap. It’s not just the vocals though as so much of this is out of time. I’m all for DIY recordings, but you can’t skimp on quality. If you do you end up sounding a bit crap. ‘True Love Died’ could be a nice little pop song with a bit of polish, but it just goes out of time so often. ‘Someday’ never gets going either, it just meanders along without any redeeming features.
As I say, I don’t take great pleasure out of hammering bands, but sometimes you have to be straight and have to be honest. The first thing people notice about a band is the singer and if that person isn’t very good you won’t last long as a band. If Church and Destroy want to improve they either have to get a new vocalist or make massive improvements.