Upon hearing the first track put forth to me by Abandoned Faith, “The Underlining Truth”, I immediately pictured a West Coast USA band. With a blazing guitar classic rock feel and pulverizing drumline, I have to say I was quite surprised to learn the band hails from South Yorkshire, England’s burrough of Sheffield.
Lead singer Jay Hewitt mixes a clean sounding harmony with a sometimes grainy growl of early 80’s metal bands. Using his voice mainly in the former for each track, he offers a sound that echoes many 90’s grunge bands. Mixing both generations together, but offering a complete sound that you could hear being played by the classic rock bands of the 60’s and 70’s. This only made me want to hear more, to see if that sound carries over to their other tracks as well. Without any disappointment, I soon realized this is the sound they have for the band, and not just a track or two.
Mixing so many generations of sound comes out one of two ways. You either nail it, or sound like an imitation karaoke band. In my humble opinion,Abandoned Faith have nailed it. Creating a timeless sound that could cater to many different rock genre lovers.
With amazing lead hooks and solos offered up by former NAIAD guitarist Richard Marsden, and steady solid rhythm kept by axeman Steve Jenkins.Abandoned Faith’s sound drives the listener to a fueled energy that can only be exhausted by hearing every offering in a live format. Drummer Aaron Smith, formerly of The Minority, doesnt follow a set pattern as each track twists and turns to both his beat and Roman Marmurowicz’s driving force behind the music. Both working in unison, which is understandable, considering Roman was also his band mate with The Minority. Bringing a completely different sound and driving force with Abandoned Faith than their former collaboration.
On the track “The Life She Leads” the instruments immediately brought to mind Corrosion of Conformity. However vocally sounding closer to a youthful Chris Cornell. Again, blending that hard rock/classic rock with grunge sounds. Abandoned Faith definitely have a seperate sound from todays rock bands. Their extensive music experience and talent shines through in their crisp whole sound. After watching some fan videos created at shows around the UK, I witnessed how tight these guys blend together and make their sound work. Each feeding off of the other, and the crowd energy to bring a full rock show that could be played to any generation of rock enthusiast. Upon having some words with the band, I found that they don’t even realize the power that their music actually holds within it. Being dubbed a timeless song is very rare and far between in todays music scene. And they have created several tracks with this sound. Not being able to be pidgeon-holed within one genre of rock. Whether being hard, alternative, metal, or any number of other classes of genre in the rock realm. Whether Abandoned Faith can continue to live up to the “timeless” stature of their current musical offerings or not is still to be seen. For now though, AF has definitely arrived and has this listener eager to see what the future has in store.
Abandoned Faith Website: http://www.abandonedfaith.co.uk/
Abandoned Faith ReverbNation: http://www.reverbnation.com/abandonedfaithuk
Abandoned Faith Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abandonedfaithuk
By L.White
