EP Release Review | HWDU – Better You Than Me
United Kingdom, Swansea
This week we put you all onto one of Swansea, South Wales finest, HWDU and we said to watch out for the full piece coming your way, well here it is!
If you want a quick recap, you can find that here, if you are wanting the play-by-play, stay where you are and keep reading.
So the question is who are HWDU, pronounced ‘Hoodoo’?. Well starting off with who makes up this awesome independent four-piece. On guitar and vocals, we have both Matt Williams, also of Suns of Thunder, Sigiriya, and Jonny Randall also of Estuary Blacks. These two gems are accompanied by Drummer and vocalist Owen Foot, with those deep smooth bass segments being delivered by Gavin Smith.
Having released their debut EP in 2021 this amazing quartet is blessing us again with their next six-track EP ‘Better You Than Me’. Being a hard rock band, they will first and foremost always offer this crashing vibe, but each track certainly has its own twist which needs to be heard to be appreciated but for now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty!
Kicking off with track one and the first and only mainstream release track ‘Machine’. This is an epic way to kick off the EP, slapping us in the face with some gorgeous indie riffs, part of those twists previously mentioned. These are woven between raging crashing beats and vocals which would have grown men weeping! This is all accompanied closely by amazing bass, which offers a gorgeous level of depth. As the song ends we are provided with a super catchy guitar riff that infiltrates your mind leaving you wanting more.
Then we are taken to the second track, which the EP is named after ‘Better You Than Me’. From the very beginning, this track is full to the brim with high-energy guitar segments which comes as an oxymoron to the vocals, with them being slower in flow but super catchy in lyrics and rhythm. The drums on this have a much more dampened cymbal effect going on with a heavy snare use, which is gorgeous alongside the epic guitar strums. This offers the listener an extremely infectious sound, which in some elements almost borders on pop-punk. More of those twists we have spoken about!
This leads us nicely onto the third featuring a clearer pop punk vibe ‘President’. This one contains some beautiful whammies in the guitar segments that you really don’t hear anymore! Couple this with the super catchy riffs that bounce from every direction. The vocals on this are so raw if it were steak it’d still be mooing, but it suits this track so perfectly, given this track’s political spin. But what is more amazing about this one is that it is ready to start a protest with its listeners as the chorus can be picked up in less than the first run, ready for everyone to chant along with!
The slow fade of ‘President’ then brings us to ‘Squat’ where everything about this EP is changed and an out-of-the-blue country vibe is introduced. This one had us ready to pick up the spoons and play along! Still maintaining the grunge feel present throughout the rest of the track and keeping the tempo super upbeat we are introduced to some awesome harmonicas, and standard country chord progression, laced amongst crashing drums! What is super crazy here is that if the vocals hold their hard rock feel but really could fit perfectly over any country backing you put them on, the versatility is something to be in awe of!
This madness takes us through to our penultimate track of this EP ‘White Horse’, where those face-melting guitars are brought back in full force! This is mashed together so perfectly with high cymbal use that has your head banging from the very beginning! This plays in between the more classical offerings, allowing for the lyrics to become the main focus in these sections, but it wouldn’t be HWDU if they didn’t bring something entirely relevant but confusing would it!? Because this is where they introduce a cowbell that plays around the beat and vocals, almost like a follow-on from the country vibe of the previous track. To round everything off, there is a gorgeous deep and subtle bass that plays throughout the background giving life to the track without the listener even knowing!
Then comes the sad moment where we reach the final piece of joy that comes with this EP ‘Lotus Eater’. This is, almost appropriately, the slowest track on the EP. The best thing about this track is it gives the instruments time to shine, with there being less vocal relevance and more emphasis given to the technical skill of the band. As the vocals do finally appear they offer the same gritty feel that we had become accustomed to, but with an added layer of smoothness as they provide more runs and vocal ranges. Their ability to bring something so simple and make it gorgeous is really evidenced here!
Overall this was an amazing listen! This is a band that wanted the good reviews bad reviews and those that were indifferent but it is honestly impossible to find a segment of this EP that does not bring pure unadulterated joy to the listeners. From the first note to the last long hold distorted guitar chord we are entirely hooked.
This needs to blow up as we said before because every fan sitting in the Crowleys, Scruffy Murphys, UPRAWR, or any other rock bar or club of the world will certainly have their new favourite band!