Halflives – V

Halflives
V
July 2^nd, 2021
16:22

Simply calling an EP “V” suggests that this is the band’s fifth release. (V – Roman sign for the number 5). But I couldn’t find five albums or EPs. If I haven’t miscounted, “V” is the third output. The special thing here, however, is that all the songs begin with this letter. Singer Linda Battilani has been doing a lot of promotion for her band and this EP in the last few weeks. So you can’t miss the chance to listen to this release more closely.

“Vibe” sounds very rhythmic, with a slight punk attitude Besides Linda’s vocals, the drums dominate. A guitar can also be heard somehow, but it seems underrepresented. The line-up list, which I copied from the album “Empty Rooms”, is also silent on this. The song is also exceptionally short, after not even two and a half minutes it ends. But none of the following songs is longer than four minutes. Brevity is the spice of life. “Victim” starts with technically alienated vocals. Speaking of vocals, this one is not unique, but still has a recognition value. The voice is quite powerful and can hold its own in both Power-Pop and Soft Rock. Here, too, the instrumental accompaniment comes mostly from drums and bass. Some synth passages are interspersed. The band calls “Valkyrie” one of the heaviest songs and a battle anthem. As a metalhead, I can only smile about that. This is certainly true for the band’s back catalogue. In places you can hear very distorted and hectic guitars. In the video you can see that the singer is hitting the strings. Whether this is the case in the recordings or live, I can’t say. For me, this is the best song on the EP. And quiet and melodic, with some short breaks, it continues with “Villain”. The title song, supplemented by the epithet “Psych”, ends the EP. The booming bass is striking here.

Metal and Hard Rock fans will certainly not get their money’s worth here. Unless their musical spectrum reaches much further, and they are open for new things. The EP essentially works through the vocals of Linda Batilani. In the already mentioned video you can see a rather spartan drumset. And you can always hear the bass lines very superficially. “V” will certainly not rank among my favourite records, but I like it, you can let your soul relax a little.

Halflives – Valkyrie (Official Music Video): https://youtu.be/VhVOKJNKSXA

Lineup:

Linda Battilani – Vocals
Oscar Scantamburlo – Bass
Fede Bernardi – Drums

Track list:

• Vibe
• Victim
• Valkyrie
• Villain
• V (Psycho)