Tethered - Demo

Labels: Self-Released/strictly no capital letters

Formats: Digital/Tape

Release Date: 19 Aug 2023

Tracklist:

1. torches

2. dust

3. motorhinder

4. shred

5. nostalgia

In spite of all the music from new bands dropping of late, I'm picking up on music by bands (and people) whom I've long admired and featured here many times before. This write-up is a mix of new band/familiar faces, as the UK's Tethered features Andy (previously of Arkless, What Price, Wonderland? etc). Andy very kindly wrote to me recently to let me about Tethered and their debut demo, which was self-released in August last year before strictly no capital letters gave it a tape release in March. 

Writing an opening review sentence and then deleting it again is currently my favourite hobby apparently! Tethered make a noise that’s filled with hardcore-punk energy on opener ‘torches’. I get vibes similar to Amyl And The Sniffers, Sheer Mag and the early hardcore attitude of Black Flag. Rose does such a great job with the vocals on this release, especially as Tethered is the first band she’s fronted.

Listening to ‘dust’ is a joy too, as it’s off-kilter and almost retro sound envelopes you with such warmth. I’m properly nostalgic for the days when MRR was a paper zine, in fact I still have all of the copies from when I used to subscribe. I can picture Tethered being reviewed and featured amongst those hallowed pages now.

‘motorhinder’ has a really old-school emo/post-hardcore sound to it and reminds me of the raw energy of Boysetsfire’s This Crying, This Screaming, My Voice Is Being Born. It grabs you with it’s immediacy but also it’s heartfelt musicianship, which as I’ve already alluded to, almost comes from a different era.

’shred’ has the immediacy of a powerviolence song to begin with before Tethered fall back to the more familiar hardcore-punk that’s filled this EP so far. Rose’s angry yet clean vocals, alongside the instrumentation of Andy, James and Pablo shows that the passion still rises to the top in the UK scene. The recording and mixing job done by Matthew Green at Head Cold Recording manages to harness that passion brilliantly too.

EP closer ‘nostalgia’ is a great one to end on, channelling every last ounce of emotion and bitterness that remains. This is one of those EPs that goes by in an instant, but is also one that leaves quite a mark because of it. I’ve witnessed bands with so much potential fade after one EP. Here’s hoping Tethered won’t be one of those because they have so much more to offer.

You can stream and grab the demo as a name-your-price download below:-

Physical tape copies are available to buy form strictly no capital letters here - https://sncl.collective-zine.co.uk/product/tethered-demo-tape/

strictly no capital letters - https://www.facebook.com/strictlynocapitalletters