PVRIS are one of the hottest rock bands around these days and they’ve recently dropped the Deluxe Edition of their debut album White Noise. The deluxe edition adds three tracks – You and I with a stripped down version and Empty; and after a few listens, it’s safe to say that we were suitably impressed with this female fronted trio.
The album starts off with one of the deluxe tracks, You and I, and even though it doesn’t have that explosive start we’re used to when it comes to rock albums this is more of a slow burner, building up with gentle lyrics from Lynn Gunn the track springs to life with an electro-rock backing track, twined with acoustic vocals. It’s definitely one of the more chilled out opening tracks we’ve heard of late, but sets the themes for the album: saving a relationship. White Noise also ends on an acoustic version of this track, where it’s just Gunn and a gentle backing track. The next track Empty follows a similar vein with a slow backing track and progresses this relationship story to the ‘empty’ part of a breakup.
The album then shifts to a more traditional rock soundtrack with My House the pick of the bunch, where clearly the relationship has ended and she’s moved on! We really enjoyed My House; it reminds us of something the likes Halestorm would come up with and gives a good account of Gunn’s vocal range. The album has a habit of shifting from high to low tempo tracks with remarkable frequency and it works. Eyelids and Mirrors is a prime example where the band does this, and at times it does feel like we’re listening to some earlier Paramore material.
Fans of WWE wrestling will also be familiar with PVRIS and their work: the track Fire was the official theme song for their last PPV Extreme Rules, which went down a treat after years of manufactured rap theme songs. The hard hitting track fits perfectly with the ‘extreme’ element of the event and we thought it was a great way for the band to get more exposure. If the videos online are anything to go by, it’s worked.
The only danger with re-releases is that the die-hard fans can feel cheated: they have to shell out for a new album for the sake of a DVD and a handful of new tracks; we’re afraid that this is the only downside to the album. Maybe an EP would have been better suited, but given that the album is under a tenner and is available on all of the music subscription sites, it doesn’t seem that much of an issue. To date the album has topped 90,000 sales so if anyone is complaining, they’re most certainly the minority.
PVRIS are certainly on a high at the moment: along with the wrestling PPV exposure they won the coveted Best International Newcomer Award at the 2015 Kerrang Awards and were in the running for Best International Act at the 2016 Kerrang Awards, and so they must be doing something right. We’d strongly recommend you give them a listen – even if you’ve heard White Noise, the new content on the deluxe definitely deserves a listen.
9/10
Standout Track: Fire, My House, You and I – stripped
For Fans Of: Paramore, Halestorm
Written by: Omar Malick
