MoCara Identifyah EP review
This is the second EP from MoCara, a four piece upcoming punk-reggae band from Surrey. I reviewed their single Egomania a while ago, and they were right in saying that it was the direction that they intended to take the band in from the last EP, you can tell the change from less rock sounding to more reggae heavy sound, still keeping some nice bluesy lead guitar in there, which i think suits them far better.
The first tracks on the EP are 'Sammy Psychosis' and the title track 'Identifyah', which are both pretty solid tracks where you get what you would expect from the band from the old EP, 'Sammy Psychosis' especially reminded me of the first album, it had the same solid riff and drumming, and then a great chorus. Even though 'Identifyah' is the title track i have to say it was my least favorite track here, although it does have a very good solo, and the drumming stood out for me in it also, i didn't click with the song as much as the others.
Next up is 'Blue Sun, Gold Sky' which is where this EP really picked up for me. It is pretty clear that this song was heavily influenced by Sublime (i even think they borrow the riff from 'Caress Me Down' as it goes into the second half), but this is not a bad ting, they still retain their own sound enough. But it starts with some really nice reggae and ska riffs, then has an amazing fast punk bit in the middle, which nicely breaks up the song as it then goes into a dub reggae section, with great solos (ehem Sublime). I have listened to this track a few times in a row now.
The next couple of songs 'Obsession' and 'Second Coming' are then after 'Blue Sun, Gold Sky' keeping the upward theme. 'Obsession' starts with a lonely reggae riff, which soon comes into the main riff in the song before the verse, and in the verse the reggae is really simple sounding and with the singing here it became my favorite part of the song. Then 'Second Coming' sounds rather similar to 'Obsession' in both the verse and chorus, at least for the first half of the song where a solo starts the difference, and then a great breakdown which is the defining moment in the song. The Last song is 'A good Nature To Forget' which is another great dub track; generally all averagely good again, it does start with bass standing it out. But this song comes out after the breakdown then solo, which feel great in the song, and are a perfect way to end the EP.
So Identifyah is a great improvement for the band in my eyes, they are taking themselves in a new direction which suits them perfectly and i hope to see more from them! 4/5!
(tour)
Free stream: https://soundcloud.com/mocara/sets/identifyah-ep
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MoCara stuff: http://www.mocaramusic.bigcartel.com/
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