Despite garnering considerable critical acclaim for their second album "Dreams Of Dynamite And Divinity" earlier this year, canny Glaswegians DECKARD remain slightly reclusive, preferring to hang back and play a few, selected live guerilla strikes with each release and build this thing up through word of mouth. In its' own way, this enigmatic approach is quite refreshing.
Not that there's anything hermit-like about Deckard's approach when they do get around to assembling in a room with a few Marshall stacks, mind. "Holy Rolling" was always one that stamped its' feet, shouting "radio single! release me now!" from the album and it doesn't disappoint as the EP's flagship. Full of swagger, it finds the guitars chugging, encircling and getting slightly chromatic as singer Chris Gordon dispatches the memorable "I will adore you, more than ever before" chorus with an alluring mixture of sincerity and cynicism.
It's well-executed, old skool hard pop/ rock without getting too obvious, as are new tunes "Nothing More" and "By The Harbour". Both of these are reliably riffmungous and piledriving and come with lashings of drama and shadowy emotional plots. They're credible set-pieces and deserve large halls, while "Sleepwalk" is arguably better, revelling in chiming guitar atmosphere and just a tinge of Matt Bellamy in Gordon's delivery.
The first run of the EP contains three extra tracks. "The Truth Will Do" impressively ropes in Nick Cave producer Nick Launay and is a duet with Tobey Torres from Snake River Conspiracy. If the idea of a hard rock duet conjures ghastly images of Meat Loaf'n'Cher, then don't panic, as this is actually classy, slowburning stuff riven with passion that shifts up to a dangerous fifth for the chorus.
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Deckard sign off with two live tracks from a rammed hometown gig at Glasgow's King Tut's. "Rearrange You" dates from the band's earlier incarnation as Baby Chaos and is punky, full-on and flying by the seat of its' pants, while the closing "What Reason" is from Deckard's debut album "stereodreamscene" and is much more familiar to anyone au fait with their crunchy riff strategies. It gives ye olde quiet/ loud dynamics a welcome spring clean into the bargain.
On the face of it, that Deckard should seem content to play a waiting game and let us come to them seems strange, as their loud, proud - but crucially intelligent - rock'n'roll would be an ideal strikeforce in larger venues. However, caution is always advised when dealing with The Man, and certainly in Deckard's case, the mountain should come to Mohammed and seek them out.
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