Review
Grit
Ghost estates EP

Do you ever play games where you imagine what would have happened if an artist or a band would have had other influences than they had now? For example: what if Girlschool would have listened to punk instead of New Wave of British Heavy Metal? What would their albums have sounded like? My best guess is it would have sounded something like Grit on their demo.

Grit is a new band from Dublin harboring members of crust/hardcore bands like Rats Blood and Easpa Measa. The band recorded an online demo containing six tracks. Distro-y Records was kind enough to help with a physical release of the demo. However, the six tracks don’t fit on a 7’’. Four tracks from the demo are out now, the other two will be released later this year with a couple of extra songs. It's something to look forward to, if you ask me.

As stated earlier in this review, Grit sounds to me like early Girlschool after listening to a lot of punk. The band members may have experience in crust/hardcore bands, but that doesn’t shine through on Ghost Estates. There’s a late '70s/early '80s vibe going on with this demo that I enjoy. The band translated the sound of that era to a modern day production. Production-wise, the band enjoys the possibilities of modern production without making it sound too polished or clean. There’s a certain roughness that adds to the experience. It really works for the combination of energy and melody that Grit has going for them.

Oh, and that Girlschool reference that keeps coming back in this review? That’s due to the singers voice. She reminds me a lot of Kim McAuliffe, and that’s a compliment, adding power and body to the four songs on Ghost Estates. This demo is really promising!.

Tracks to check: "Concrete Sea" and "Stray Bullet."