Spearside gets ferocious in their latest EP, Hatchet Man. Out of their studio in Trim, Co. Meath, brothers Oisín and Cian Walsh cook up something raw and primal from scratch, distilling decades of punk, garage, and psych into four blistering tracks. If you’ve never heard a band that sounds like Jay Reatard raised on Dinosaur Jr. and thrown into a blender with The Stooges and The Byrds, Spearside just solved that for you.
The title track “Hatchet Man” is pure vitriol. Guitars snarl like power tools gone rogue while Oisín howls with throat-shredding urgency, somewhere between a warning siren and a banshee on a mission. Then “Planning Our Escape” touches Spearside’s vulnerability, with their emotions buzzing through guitars and driving beats. It’s like like a burnout daydreaming on the edge of revolution.
“All The Same” weighs down with gritty and sensitive resignation. It’s new wave for the disillusioned, alternating between jaded shrugs and pounding fists on walls. And then, closing cover “Are Friends Electric?” builds on Gary Numan. It surprises you with a refreshing flavor. We have chiming, warm, floating guitar melodies here, instead of the usual buzz as it comes with a jangly shimmer of 12-string guitars before dive-bombing into grungy shoegaze devastation, coming in bouts. It’s reverent, unhinged, and exactly the kind of genre-chaos Spearside excels at.
On the edge of something great, Spearside has their EP available on Spotify, just for you. Check it out.
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Review by: Naomi Joan