Despite being a trio from Nashville you won’t hear any schmaltzy country and western hits on this debut album. The ten tracks are guitar-centred rock tunes which combine muscular riffs and a retro-prog metal sound.
Leader Ryan Caudle describes the sound as a mix of The Smashing Pumpkins, Rush, King Crimson, Foo Fighters, King’s X and Peter Gabriel. The King’s X are the odd ones out in this list since they have more of a cult (i.e. largely unknown) status. This trio’s standing has not been helped by being labelled as a Christian rock band.
I have no way of knowing the religious persuasions, if any, of Sound & Shape but they are certainly not a band that trade on trendiness. In the video for Sugar The Pill the threesome seem perfectly at home in a disused warehouse surrounded by a defunct plant and machinery.
The closing power ballad How The Light Gets In ends with “nah nah nah nah nah nah” lyrics against an incongruous orchestral backing.
As a metaphor for the troubled world the disaster medicine the band are prescribing offers an all too familiar and unconvincing cure.