The dissonant sounds of Melbourne’s Gold Class have spread like wildfire throughout the country in these last few hours. To say this band came out of nowhere wouldn’t feel like too much of an exaggeration to be completely honest. The band’s first single Life As A Gun fuelled those flames, driven by Jon Shub’s bass and Adam Curley’s deep vocals.
The single’s success quickly saw the four-piece signed to Spunk Records and they now have their debut album It’s You ready to drop next week, because why screw around with an EP when you can put out a big long player right? As anticipation for that release continues to build we have the latest offering from it to whet your appetite, Bite Down.
Melbourne four-piece keep up the bass driven intensity with their latest single Bite Down. Raw and primal, it’s a delectable taste of their debut album.
Bite Down is an appropriate title for a Gold Class song. Their music has a raw and very primal feeling to it. Curley’s vocals certainly claim some responsibility there. His lower register harbours a sinister element to it, as he drawls in his distinctly Aussie voice. His lyrics are stark in their depiction of a persona unable to fight for control of their own life. Frequent references to the heart, teeth and the body are abundant. There’s no clever metaphors because frankly they aren’t needed.
The music is as urgent as ever, if you loved Life As A Gun then you’ll be all over this one. The funny thing about Gold Class is how they maintain an uncanny sense of intensity without ever becoming overbearing. It’s a quality a lot of metal bands would envy. Metal bands often call upon breakdowns, chanting choruses and tone shifts to bring that sense of drama to the table, but as anyone would know those tricks get old fast. Gold Class have that intensity, that raw energy mentioned earlier that is really the core of their sound.
The song kicks off in a frenzy, the bass at wheel and cruising down the highway at a cool 120 km/ph. It clips along at a good pace with the drums following suit. With the bass up front gives Bite Down a gritty quality that is thankfully a much needed respite from all the guitar heavy indie-pop that has over saturated the scene in recent years. The guitar here is given free reign, and props to Evan James Purdey for achieving so much with his instrument in such a subtle way.
Bite Down is a brilliant sample of what’s to come from Gold Class. It’s dark, personal and a little surreal, a dynamic that the band have mastered surprisingly well considering they smashed out these recordings in a matter of days. Their debut album It’s You is out September 4 through Spunk Records.
