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Duels: The Barbarians Move In

08th May 2008 | by Aidan Williamson

"Never poke a sleeping giant" say many proverbs and quotations across the globe. When Nude Records idiotically dropped the band Duels back in 2007, they appear to of tossed a incendiary grenade followed by sixteen rounds of Uzi fire at said giant, and now, safe to say, the giant is resolutely awake.

While their debut album "The Bright Lights And What I Should Have Learned" was a resounding critical success, the proletarians were a little slow to catch on. Only a fool would similarly ignore "The Barbarians Move In".

Utilising an impressive array of paranoid lyricism, the boys declare in opener "The Furies", "We're the wind in the trees / We're the scars on your knees / And we're coming for you". Such dramatic proclamations paint the artists as being embittered prisoners of war who have spent the greater part of the last decade traversing barren wastelands in constant fear for their lives from the abundance of predators which circle them, snarling and sneering in threat... in short, they grew up in Leeds.

The extraordinarily sounding drums blast through the airwaves like a shadowy stalker who could just as easily be three-hundred miles from you than he could be just peering over your shoulder. When vocalist John Foulger starts his menacing lullabies, the sensation of intensity is eminently palpable. With a voice that shares tones with Muse's Matt Bellamy and Thom Yorke, Foulger knows how to get the message across with an urgency and above all, a deep-rooted sense of melody.

The song "Perimeter Fence" is the one most likely to garner those aforementioned Radiohead comparisons. With the vocals seemingly coming from a horrific abyss, it's paired with achingly haunted background chants and an unexpected chorus which leaps from the page like a startled banshee.

Such a colossal sound, coupled with an indisputable attention to detail, mark Duels out as being a unique force in the British music scene, and when they let the instruments do the talking, unique takes a step up to stratospheric. Previously dormant crackles are spurred to life, wrapping the instruments in intelligent experimental effect waves which surge around the mix with the ferocity of an irate German Shepherd, starved and seriously seeking vengeance.

When music of this calibre occupies the airwaves, it serves to highlight the sheer pointlessness of the British music that dominates the mainstream press. "I wanna hear the choir sing for the last time." they proclaim on the penultimate track. To which we all agree, although we do reserve the right to keep hitting that rewind button.

Rating:  9 / 10