We featured Swedish project Holy Ship and their new album on Tuesday, today it's a band we've featured frequently on these pages, The Holy, who've just released single 'Any Given Day' , ahead of album release 'Landmark', which will be with us on February 16th.
I feel obliged occasionally to reminisce that I first wrote about The Holy (briefly known as Holy Roman) back in 2015 when I came across them as a support listing to some Soliti bands playing at Semi-Final in Helsinki, before they'd even released their official debut. I found a demo online which I thought was outstanding, and then promptly tried to give them the musical 'kiss of death' by suggesting they had an outstanding future. For once, thankfully, I wasn't wrong, as they've built up a sizeable following across Europe.
I do think that the The Holy are still at their best when, like Ähtäri their original demo, they still throw everything at a track, creating huge intensity from their dual drummers, and that's exactly what they still achieve. Yet their songwriting has developed and in 'Any Given Day' we get a soaring, memorable vocal melody to add to the relentless drums and guitars, and it's a great mix.
Really hoping they get some more traction with 'Landmark', they played a fair few European festivals in 2022, but last time they released an album was mid Covid and that must have had an effect on promoting the release.
Find them on Facebook.