Shuriken – Surrender Is Not An Option

Ah the post arrived on a wonderfully sunny morning and I was graced with a brand new Shuriken release – excellent I thought. So I headed over to my CD player and shoved it straight in to the CD changer to review it!

Track 1 kicks off, it is an upbeat Emo Punk song called 'Deflector Shields Down' and as per usual the lyrics are extremely melodic and upbeat. The drumming is strong here and the Guitar’s are kicking out some awesome riffs so I can see why the band chooses to open their set with this one – it is very upbeat and I can imagine it getting everyone up on their feat and moving.

Track 2, 'Reaction Time' begins with some fast drumming and interesting Guitar riffs. The vocals on this song are more poppy on this than the others yet they remain melodic and are still emotion driven. It is a funky and interesting song which is sure to please many with its ability to be poppy without being cheesy.

The third track, ‘All In The Reflexes’ is more heavy than the others and the emotion seems to be dropped for a more heavy sound with some storming Rock lines and also some brilliant drum playing and strong guitar riffs. I like it as it shows they can be more heavy and pull it off and I think its totally cool when bands are willing to experiment and try out some new things. This is a long track but even so it manages to maintain momentum and is cracking throughout.

Track 4, ‘Motion Sickness’ is another cool song with a stunning guitar riff and some outstanding drumming. The song steams away with some shouty vocals, some melodic vocals and lyrics catchier than the flu! Again it has a different sound and with such a large variety it is amazing that they have been able to pull them all off with such fluency and style.

Ah, now we get to track 5, a cover of Ricky Martin’s ‘Vida Loca’ …ahem nice. Interesting this song may be but it really doesn’t do the band justice. It is really different to their usual style but the drumming is still cool and fast and the guitar riffs are awesome. Ok, the vocals are Shuriken but don’t portray the band in their true colours. Odd choice for a cover song here but oh well.

The sixth track however, ‘Intangible’ is a steady song with extremely emotional vocals getting back to what the band do best – making solid Punk tunes. This is a great tune and ends the EP in tremendous style. I feel that this tune is enough to catapult the band into the mainstream.