CD: “Time To Grow” By We Caught The Castle

Southeast Powerpop/Rock/Post Hardcore act We Caught the Castle have a new LP out called Time to Grow. Having had a good listen in full I can confirm it is rather good! They employ an idea few bands use where they open with an instrumental track that melds nicely into track 2 and title track ‘Time to Grow’. Deliberate or accidental? You decide! Either way it works.

Time to Grow has some wonderful chiming guitars and a full-on “screamo” backing vocal courtesy of guitarist Joe. Add to this some ferocious drumming from Zak behind singer Hollie’s pop/goth vocals and you get a really big sound on this,the title track. “That Poor Boy” is anthemic in a post/hardcore style and one imagines a live favourite. It’s also complimented by the big “hard-rock” middle 8. “Patterns” is lyrically clearer and mellower with some intricate chord changes and a nice acoustic ending. “Generations” returns the power with some subtle screamo in the background. I imagine another live favourite here with WCTC at their anthemic best.

“Everything You Are” is another great song with great vocals followed by standout track “Lips”. “Summers” lyrically is delivered in a heartfelt way while the accompanying music is very “radio friendly” (to this reviewer). Another instrumental blends into “Home” with its “pained” vocals while “Escape” returns us to the “shoutier” material on here in the additional vocals. “Memories” is “Cerebral Ballzy-esque” if I were to name check any band with its ferocious hardcore punk elements in the song-music to “mosh” to! The band end with the slower, melodic “Answers” which completes this LP as it starts with an accompanying instrumental. All in all a confident,well produced LP,delivered by a band who clearly didn’t waste their time while at music college. There’s nothing here I haven’t heard before and one could pigeonhole them in the whole post/hardcore genre,but I feel there’s plenty in the tank with this young band. Experimentation will not be wasted on their sound,and with youth on their side one feels they can only get better.

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