Album Review: Cola Wars - 'The Heartless Hype'

Surely fans of Bodyjar are stoked to hear the voice of Cameron Baines still busting out of their stereos thanks to Cola Wars, albeit in a far more aggressive vein. At least that is the case for the group's latest EP 'The Heartless Hype,' which features five in-your-face tracks of rock that will attack you like a hungry bear.

Think Bodyjar with a darker tone and a little less punk in the rock, but still plenty of melody, especially provided by Baines' vocals. Opening track 'Center Of' features soaring chorus lines and verses driven as much by the direct guitar riffs as the vocals, it is easy to see the influence of engineer Forrester Savell in these songs, especially in the guitar tones.

Things soften up for 'Emergency', which settles down the explosion of the opener with a catchy chorus line and cleaner guitars in a track that is led and changed by the drum lines above all. 'Fader' marks the return of the dirty guitars in what could be called the most "Bodyjar-ish" track on the EP but this mainly due to the vocal harmonies.

The background synth line of 'Deeper' gives the track a different feel to the rest of the EP, which when looked at as a whole could be classed as a little similar sounding due to the lack of tone variance. This song however offers up some more colours that give Cola Wars their own personality, something they will want to push harder in the future to move away from the Jar associations. The EP closes with 'Change Your Mind', another softer track with huge drums contrasting against softer guitars and vocals, but a stand out thanks to excellent song writing.

Cola Wars biggest challenge is, and will continue to be for awhile, the shrugging off of the Bodyjar comparisons. That being says, Bodyjar fans will love this stuff as it sounds similar, but with a harder edge and mature approach to the song structures. Regardless, this is good rock music, so let's hope there is plenty more to come.

1. Center Of

2. Emergency

3. Fader

4. deeper

5. Change Your Mind