EP review: Never Drafted – The Ritual Standoff

Never Drafted walk a thin line. They emulate the speed and aggression of punk while breaking off to explore the progressive metal side of their musical equation. Name-checking both Arcade Fire and At The Drive-In is both interesting and misleading; The Ritual Standoff showcases a band who seem caught up in a progressive punk impasse.

“To Those Who Pray” begins The Ritual Standoff with the sound of rising drums, then flicks into a lulling progressive lullaby before exploding into the plodding thud that characterises their sound. “Attacked By All Sides” contains a highly technical metal guitar solo then layers melodically rich vocals over the top. Everyone sounds so busy trying to show their musical talent that the songs often get crushed under the weight of their expectations.

The Ritual Standoff remind me of three different bands impacted into a single entity. There are definite parallels with Swedish progressive giants Anekdoten (or, if that name means nothing to you, Never Drafted appear to have a King Crimson fixation) and hints of Godspeed You Black Emperor! (not unnaturally, as the two bands both come from Monteal), but Never Drafted’s primary influence on appears to be the awesome Tool. “No Quarter” may echo Led Zeppelin but the song itself is straining hard to be early (Opiate-era) Tool.

For those kind of comparisons you’ve got to be a minimum of great and Never Drafted don’t yet have the song writing capability or sheer nerve, even if their musicianship is second to few. They remind me of pop-metallers Extreme, who were excellent musicians but who only managed two songs in their own lifespan (“Get The Funk Out” was a stab at – bleurgh – funk rock and “More Than Words” was the ghastly ballad that finished their career); Never Drafted seem to have similar aspirations but haven’t found the songs yet.

To dump a tedious slow song on the listening public late in the running order is Never Drafted’s final crime. “Between Birds & Bridges” is an ill-fated acoustic ballad that shows off Jeff Yates’ colourless vocals and (apparently) requires the services of a third guitarist. It’s an identikit ‘wistful’ song that sits uneasily with its compatriots.

“New Born”, the final track of this unremarkable half hour, sums up Never Drafted coolly; a tight thrash-about that starts swiftly and powers along, but which never really gets anywhere. The drums are slightly overpowering, the vocal harmonies are nice but the whole thing sounds like a great pudding of a committee-written song, complete with pointless time changes and stand-up solos for everyone except the bass player (and he sings anyway).

I so wanted to be positive about Never Drafted; they contain a great deal of the elements I love in music and, on paper, they sound superb. In execution, however, The Ritual Standoff comes across like those pan-European films that get made every so often: so many people have had a hand in it that the whole thing looks and sounds like mush.

Maybe if they had been drafted it would have instilled some discipline in them…