Raven's Review: Moreless - Little Grey Men

 "The Game You're Playing is a Dead Man's Roulette"

Brand spanking new Finnish Psychobilly from a little ways north, Moreless is a five piece band consisting of:
Riku  - Upright Bass 
Aleksi  - Guitar
Veera - Lead Vocals
Tommi - Lead Vocals
Juuso - Drums 

Moreless plays what the band themselves would call "Morebilly" which is basically just a combination of Billy genres, blues and the sort, though a fairly newer band in the scene, they have a very consistent sound and most importantly, they look like they have fun whenever they play

I first came into contact with the band on complete accident, I was at a gig up north, getting my first real proper big Psychobilly experience when I bumped into Riku, their bass player, I saw him with his Moreless patch just walking through the crowd and thought that the logo looked peculiar enough for me to look them up after the gig.

And funnily enough after the gig I ended up seeing a few clips shot by Riku (if my memory serves right) and ended up hitting him up. After a little conversing we hit it off (at least in my mind, correct me if I'm wrong R. o7). He told me he played bass for the band Moreless and after that I'd kept my eyes peeled for new content, and after a little wait, it finally arrived.

Moreless's debut EP 'Little Grey Men' came out on July 7th of this year (2023) a few days after my birthday, like a lovely belated birthday gift that was definitely not just a gift for me.

The EP was recorded in Ylämylly at a studio called the Purple Room which also occasionally acts as the band's training flat if I understood right. The mixing and mastering was done by Sampo Kinnunen.

What I do know though that this EP is 4 original songs that serve as a great introduction to the sound of Morebilly hahaha.

Here's the Tracklist:

1. Dead Man's Roulette, 3 minutes 8 seconds

2. Ghosts, 2 minutes 32 seconds

3. Monsters of the Night, 2 minutes 27 seconds

4. Little Grey Men, 3 minutes 8 seconds

Coming out to a nice breezy 11 minutes and 17 seconds of playtime from start to finish.

So let's get right into the meat and bones.

1. Dead Man's Roulette, 9/10 (Personal Favourite)

Starting us off, what better way to introduce a rocking band than a song about gambling, and gambling with your life no less, the intro starts off with a beautiful raunchy riff from Aleksi that ends up repeating through a lot of the song in one way or another, making for a really consistent foundation for an already great sounding song.

The next thing to come straight to your ears is the beautifully mixed, walking bass line delivered by the smiley man Riku, tightly played and very fitting accompaniment to what Aleksi plays through the song so big props for the instrumentalists for the composition! 

Another big plus for the song in my opinion is the chorus, it's catchy and definitely something that makes for a great little shout for those sweet crowd participation moments, Tommi's vocal delivery on the song reminds me a lot of another great Finnish psychobilly band 'The Bullet Biters'

Overall, it's a song that's amazingly composed, amazingly performed and well mixed, serving as a great start to the EP so far. 9/10

2. Ghosts, 7/10

A slower song about paranormal activities and midnight shenanigans, showing off the more melodic side of the band and introducing the second vocalist Veera. The vocals have a tinge of that Imelda May vibe to them, though Veera's delivery is a lot more soft-spoken, well fitting the song and how it's performed. 

The guitars and the bass of the song reminds me a lot of more melodic Nekromantix material, it has a lot of that Sandorff-Nekroman type chemistry to it to my ears, again it's a well mixed and performed song, I just think it's not the strongest one on this EP but a great song for sure. 7/10

3. Monsters of the Night, 7.5/10

We all have our own tales of monsters in the night right? Moreless sure does, a beautifully melodic track with just the right amount of raunchiness to it to keep the ear listening and the foot tapping. The first song to feature both Tommi and Veera on vocals on the same track, showing off the nice blend between soft melodies and gritty rock 

Though you hear a bit of the good old 'Finglish' accent in a few parts, the lyrics are good, the chorus is a good sing along type reminiscent of Tiger Army and the sort and as always the instrumentalia is top notch. Overall it's a tight track with just the right amount of humanity in it for me to like it. 7.5/10

4. Little Grey Men, 8/10

And finally the title track of the whole EP, starting off with a groovy intro with that lovely scifi flavour to it, the song has a lot of the same vibes and quirks to it that The Nevrotix' catalogue has with the grit of songs like 'Out of This World' from De La Rocka. I've always loved songs that feel like I'm reading a comic book about aliens and the distant future and this song definitely makes me feel just that.

Featuring wacky sound effects, the groove to make you bop from side to side for hours if you had the song on loop and a well mixed, if not a little funny sounding vocal ensemble, the vibes are just right for this one, making a great addition to all your Sci-fi music needs. A strong 8/10

All in all I definitely recommend checking out the full EP and keeping an eye out for these Morebilly maniacs, this is a solid first punch into the sonicsphere of Psychobilly and adjacent genres, I'm giving the whole EP an 8/10. It is a solid, tight and well mixed EP and I'm excited to get a physical copy of it if that's possible in the future. 

The band is also set to record and release a full-length album sometime next year, rumours say early next year, and there are plans for a full row of physical copies and probably other great merch items to roll out with it so keep your eyes peeled on Moreless! - Judas

LINKS

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