A wall of sound blasts out for the opening track (You Win Some, You Lose Some) before the full bodied voice of Harriet Reynolds makes herself heard over the "crushing riffage".
The five-piece indie band's guitar orientated sound is more rooted in commercial pop than hard rock, driving towards epic anthemic choruses that never quite materialise.
The energy invested in the five up-tempo tunes can't mask the lack of variety. There is little which stands out from the hundreds of hard-working young bands making this type of music.
That said, I would say the motivational lyrics of The Last Word, which features Renz Byrne of fellow Essex band Never Means Maybe, is the track that is most likely to get them noticed by a record label: "sing it loud and hold your head up high"
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In theory at least all the elements are in place on this EP for them to strike it as big as Paramore but none of the songs here have the memorable hooks that make all the difference. They could, and hopefully will, do better.
Held By Horses' website
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