Bring to Bear – Light And Shadow

Bring To Bear
Light And Shadow
Out: October 8^th, 2021
Playing time: 11:58

Symphonic Folk Metal from England? Who doesn’t think of an excess of horns, shawms and bagpipes? Of fearsome painted nature boys? But Bring to Bear from London are obviously different. On the promo photo, the musicians look like a normal Rock or Metal band. On the line-up list, too, you don’t really find anything out of the ordinary. Guitars, drums, keyboards, vocals and growls. Well, there is also an accordion. In the meantime, the band has probably hired a bass player. Bring To Bear was founded in 2020 and released their debut EP “Light And Shadow” in October last year.

Already “The Shadow Ruse” rocks lively. Folk rock? One can marginally guess, thanks to the accordion. Otherwise, the guitars, the pumping bass lines, the synths dominate. Above all this, however, the interplay of clear vocals and growls is enthroned. Then the Brits dare to play a Queens of the Stone Age song. While I do not like the original of “No One Knows” a lot, I like this version very much. Less punk attitude but finest Folk Rock. The accordion comes more into the foreground here. Bring to Bear have saved the best for the end. With “From The Abyss” the pendulum swings a bit more in the direction of folk metal. The growls sound like the battle cries of Viking warriors. And shieldmaiden Izabela delivers her best performance here.

“Light And Shadows” is an extremely successful debut EP. With this release, they create anticipation for a full album. However, they also set the level for album production quite high. The future will show whether Bring to Bear can fulfil these expectations.

Bring to Bear – The Shadow Ruse: https://youtu.be/e8kigVMxv_I

Lineup:

Simon Jones – Drums
Ian Tarboton – Accordion, Keyboard, Growls
Izabela Smyt – Lead Vocals
Nikiforos Rotas – Guitar
Hristo Nikolov – Guitar

Track list:

• The Shadow Ruse
• No One Knows
• From The Abyss