Whether it’s a good thing or not for a band to throw in as many different styles as they can into a record is debatable, but despite ROMANS being guilty of creating that sort of patchwork of sound, they show they’re capable of going in any direction – and there’s gems to be found in this debut EP.
‘Something Biblical’ launches ‘Cravatte Nere’ with an upbeat tempo and a long scream, and swiftly becomes a great track with catchy vocals and background growls. There’s more focus the vocals rather than guitars on ‘Out of Town‘, but it’s a little repetitive and takes the wind out of the sails a bit.
At the beginning of ‘Coffee’, ROMANS sound like completely different band, but it does lead back to poppy sounding, Stump-esque vocals, and the best vocal on the record is to be found on the slowburning sentimental track ‘Barriers’ – which is the one you’ll want to hear again and again. ‘Two and Rolling’ is another heavy Rock n Roll effort from the band, but when this has been done so many times before, ‘Coffee’ and ‘Barriers’ still stand out as the strongest moments of the EP.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with ‘Cravatte Nere’, but once ROMANS decide on a consistent sound that they’re comfortable with, they’ll be ones to keep an eye on in the future.
KRISTI GENOVESE