Energy - Walk Into the Fire EP

I was a little confused when I read something from Bridge Nine describing one of their bands as having “haunting keyboards”, mostly because I don’t quite associate Bridge Nine with anything but hardcore. Yet, Energy fit in like a niche to the B9 family, with a sound combining said keyboards with catchy as fuck melodies and rock solid songwriting. Though mostly straightforward, the three songs on Walk Into the Fire are written well enough to keep you humming them well after you’ve hit the stop button.

Mixing Tank's delicate vocals and driving guitars from Joe Freedman and Dan Mancini can be a difficult task, but Energy seem to pull it off without much friction between the two. Sure, the vocals sound a little flat at first, but after only a song or two, you’ll see how said voice fits into the darker timbre sought by a track like closer “Angels at My Grave” – a track that balances the dark, yet majestic keyboards and huge guitar sounds into a great ending to this EP. Jumping back to the beginning though, the title track opens the EP with a chunky guitar melody that haunts our ears (in a good way) throughout the track. If there is one thing that Energy truly do well on Walk Into the Fire, it is grabbing your attention with a whimsically dark concoction of punk-rock and somehow never letting go, and the title track is a sure bet to keep you hooked. It might be a little too straightforward and repetitive for some, but Energy add enough bits and pieces of melody and drum fills to keep the repetition fresh without simply repeating the same section a million times.

“Let’s Get Away” is sandwiched in as the middle track, and serves as a great bridge between the first and third songs. While it again teeters on the border of darker punk-rock and theatrical sounding pop-rock, we get an atmosphere created by the keyboards and guitars that creates a strange, yet effective backdrop for the soaring vocals and pulsing drums. We get flourishes of brilliance on the drums from drummer Justin Flaherty throughout this track, as interesting fills on the ride and crash cymbals keep this from being a monotonous drum beat. “Angels at My Grave” ends the EP on a high note, as the band ventures away from their usual punk-rock sound to throw in sections of drawn out drums and ringing keyboard melodies. The bridge near the end of the track is truly epic, balancing a wall of double-beat guitars against huge synth melodies and solid kitwork.

If you like your music a little on the dark side, Energy would certainly be worth picking up. You’ll have a hard time saying no to anything as catchy as this, and you'll be thankful you looked in an odd place for it.

Energy
Walk Into the Fire
Bridge Nine Records
B+