Padua band Loud Chemistry has just recently dropped their debut, self-produced and self-titled EP accompanied by a killer video for the first single “Vultures”, which you can stream on YouTube. The video is set in a field of some unknown, faded crop, where the band plays only to a dark night. With its overall bleak atmosphere, full of subdued tones, black and white, and contrasted with short cuts to a fresh, pink rose and an innocent girl slathering herself with unidentified black goo, the video is the perfect summation of the romantic melodrama of the nineties—slightly formulaic, but extremely effective. The melody twists and turns, playing with dissonance in a way only grunge can pull off, until it eventually worms its way into your ear and refuses to budge. The rest of the EP is well balanced with three more songs that all take the earworm job seriously. The screaming chorus’ and the weeping guitar solo in “Tonight” are undeniably strong; “Angels in a Box” definitely contains the kind of blasphemous edge of the nineties; but “Hell Flames’ Garden” seems to capture the more upbeat, angst-y side of the band, which proves to be really interesting for the melodic development in the song, extremely reminiscent of the Foo Fighters. As one of their fans puts it, “Generation X is still alive!”. Loud Chemistry mixes their audio potions into a bubbling froth, which brings the drug-hazed Seattle of the early nineties perfectly back to life. Now that they’ve got their line-up solidified and this new EP to promote, the guys of Loud Chemistry have decide to lay it all out on the line in the Emergenza Festival. They just rocked out in Padua and are now waiting to hear if they’ve made it through to the semifinals. Stay tuned to Emergenza.net to hear the news!

MC