A new face in Rock arrives on a tourist visa with something new, but it’s not the runaway smash you’d expect.
Arrow Haze, a group from Belgium consisting of Theo Green (vocals, drum), Ben Lucian (rythmn guitar), Stef Exelmans (bass) and Karoly Alapi (lead guitar), create an energetic sound, lively and full of skill on their debut track, “Elly Kedward.” While the skill is there, the emotion barely exists as they yawn out the lyrics.
The intro is spicy and flavorful as the elements start one by one, lending to one another and creating thirty-seven seconds of blade-sharp precision and blood-red passion which dies down as the first verse begins, quite conversational, to be frank. Although the group is good at displaying all the right elements of rock, that can’t save them from the noticeably dry vocals.
As the song goes on, it’s clear the group relies more on the strength of their hands than voices. The electric guitar electrifies, the drums beat out stories and it all sounds right but the singing is as hopeful as an ember in a dark room. Granted, things spice up a bit at various points in the song where emotion is proved to be needed, but it isn’t much and it doesn’t satisfy. The song is a little tasteless, with as much emotion found at a game of checkers.
The song itself is good, it means well. It’s lengthy lyric-wise, another reason why it hurts that everything else has next to no power, no guts.
The group does well to leave off with great solos and a good outro, but the the lyrics are just verbose. There’s also no change in tone. The group has the rock-on skill of Good Charlotte, the sounds captivate, the lyrics can be compared to that of Simple Plan, full of purpose, designed to connect. They can also be compared to another foreign group, the Scottish band Franz Ferdinand. Same problem, musical skill, lyrical genius, but no real attitude, spunk. Fire. Just drawl hidden behind a wondrous sound.
Arrow Haze will be here to shake up the charts very soon. They’ll be here to rock out your ears and make you fall with the eclectic, foreign sound they are made of. Hopefully they come with more emotion, more “umph” and attribute it to their lyrics. Lyrics are meant to snag the ear and the heart but with no driving force behind it, they’ll be words to another song.
You can listen to the song below:
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