Cliffhanger
CLIFFHANGER READY TO DROP SELF-TITLED EP
Chicago's pop-punk outfit Cliffhanger will drop their self-titled EP on January 10. Based on the two tracks available on Bandcamp, it promises to be the cat’s meow, full of ooh la la galvanizing energy.
Cliffhanger | Photo: Sasha Danielle Strahler
Chicago’s music scene, obviously, is happening, churning out great bands pushing out grand strapping music, the kind of music pumped up on steroids and HGH, you know, like Stallone. It’s either something in the water or maybe it’s just simple Darwinism working its way out: only the best survive.
In any event, listeners prove triumphant, since they get the impressive music.
According to their FB page, Cliffhanger is made up of Mike Centracco (rhythm guitar), Mike Licare (drums), Matt Meindl (vocals), Lou Pontillo (bass), and Dan Rickert (lead guitar). Formed in 2012, the band released two EPs with Michael Govaere at Downbeat Studios, followed by landing a spot on Milwaukee’s Vans Warped Tour in 2015.
After the Vans Warped Tour, Cliffhanger added a new singer to the line-up, and started writing songs with Evan West, resulting in “Barbed Wire Bat.”
Cool two-part harmonies inject dual layers of sonic surfaces, adding scrumptious resonant dimension.
The new EP will encompass seven-tracks. As indicated above, only two are accessible for listening and review right now – “After Sunrise” and “Hollowed Out.”
“After Sunrise” opens on a thumping kick drum and roiling guitars pumping out stridently glistening colors and then flows into deeper growling riffs, accented by churning actinic tones. A soft breakdown riding a rumbling bassline and sparkling guitars shifts the harmonics, followed by ramping back up to electrifying dynamics.
“Hollowed Out” travels on stuttering guitars rolling out pungent momentum atop grandly Hot Topics-like drumming. Meindl’s voice, a bit reedy and deliciously inflected with nasal-lite timbres, infuses the lyrics with bountiful pop-punk anxiety about anything and everything, especially social interactions.
Cool two-part harmonies inject dual layers of sonic surfaces, adding scrumptious resonant dimension.
With their anabolic muscular punch, and Meindl’s nuanced vocals, Cliffhanger dishes up yummy androgenic hormonal tunes with oomph. The EP would seem to be something to look forward to.
