The Lost Millions – Novella Dantes EP Review: Refined Roughness.

The musical landscape of today lends itself heavily to a clean, smooth aesthetic in the mainstream. The still dominant Hip-Hop and synth-laced Pop dominate the airwaves with their versatile sounds. To this end, one may shy away from Novella Dantes and its eclectic post-punk inspired sounds. This would be a mistake, as this EP is inspired from start to finish.

Novella Dantes is an EP with focus. It opens with See the Light, a track that finds its charm in the roughest of places. The guitars carry the tune while adding in surprising riffs seemingly randomly to keep you on your toes. The distortion effect on the vocals meshes well with the instrumentals and Matt Westfield’s own eclectic performance. See the Light combines the rough industrial distortion with an old-school grooviness that will have you swaying. My Street, the following track, almost pulls a 180 from See the Light. A much darker and mysterious instrumental forgoes the rough, grinding distortion for clarity throughout. Not only does this allow for appreciation of the instrumental nuances sprinkled in the track, but lets the vocals shine as well. Without the distortion, the clarity of the lyrics shows the edge in this track is just the opposite of the one before it. The clarity adds weight to the track and allows its edge to be found within the lyrics. “Why do you come to my street? I told you don’t follow after me.” Is one of many lines where you can feel the weight of the words. Complicated is another stand-out track here. A slower paced track with heavy bass that gives off a very introspective aesthetic. The haunting instrumentals play nicely with the crooning of Matt Westfield on this track. The more industrial vibe the track gives off allows the vocals the edge they need when he cries “Well it’s complicated, why don’t you un-complicate it!”

Novella Dantes is a defining EP for The Lost Millions. Each track is eclectic and will have you rocking out with stellar guitar performances. Every one is unique and shows the listener another element of this inspired group. The vocals of Matt Westfield are dynamic and inspired, working well within the aesthetic of the band. For any fan of rock music, you owe it to yourself to check out Novella Dantes. Fans of this eclectic post-punk sound will definitely find at least one of these tracks on their playlist. Check this one out, it’s not often a band can nail a sound on their second go.