{"id":97135,"date":"2022-12-02T00:00:42","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T00:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=97135"},"modified":"2022-12-12T20:19:03","modified_gmt":"2022-12-12T20:19:03","slug":"album-review-offended-welcome-to-nowhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-offended-welcome-to-nowhere\/","title":{"rendered":"OFFENDED – Welcome To Nowhere (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

OFFENDED
Welcome To Nowhere<\/strong><\/span>
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\nSelf-released (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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With a rather meaty guitar tone, UK metallers Offended have knocked on my door and served up a deliciously melodic debut full-length opus. Offended are a trio from Leeds featuring Carol Fernandez (vocals), Jamie Hollis (guitar, bass and keyboards) and Tom Hallam (drums) and together they make a fine hard rockin\u2019 sound boasting plenty of hooks, bite and anthemic attitude, particularly with the opening cut \u2018The Hell Zone\u2019 where Carol\u2019s tone brings a style of attitude not too dissimilar to that of The Runaways.<\/p>\n

This really is a good little record featuring eight tidy tracks that provide instant access. Although the songs are catchy and instant, there\u2019s clearly chemistry between the members which results in an interesting mix of hard rock styles.<\/p>\n

\u2018Virtue & Vice\u2019 has a swagger and weight where Carol\u2019s voice again has that Debbie Harry-cum-Cherie Currie vibe and she\u2019s able to effortlessly shift in-between the weightier riffs and lighter, poppier rock moments. \u2018Burning Effigy\u2019 begins with speedy axe work, the band billowing rust like some veteran New Wave Of British Heavy Metal act, while \u2018The Curse\u2019 chugs with equal, steely menace.<\/p>\n

As the record unravels one feels as if they are experiencing something special and yet nostalgic as the trio taps into gloriously upbeat yet streetwise hard rock daubed in grease and vibrating like a storm.<\/p>\n

The brooding title track is stark, almost gloomy in its acoustic trickling, and then there\u2019s Carol\u2019s haunting sneer which drags us into the darkness as the song builds. \u2018Mistakes\u2019 hints at more wistful, subtle notions before shifting into an all-out rock \u2018n\u2019 roll extravaganza before closer \u2018The Fool\u2019s Demise\u2019 snorts with derision and charges like a flaming bull.<\/p>\n

Every now and then a record like Welcome To Nowhere<\/em> crawls from out of the cracks and you just have to marvel at its organic magic. Offended are my new favourite band.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OFFENDEDWelcome To Nowhere Self-released (2022)Rating: 8.5\/10 With a rather meaty guitar tone, UK metallers Offended have knocked on my door and served up a deliciously melodic debut full-length opus. Offended are a trio from Leeds featuring Carol Fernandez (vocals), Jamie Hollis (guitar, bass and keyboards) and Tom Hallam (drums) and together they make a fine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-offended"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97135"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97145,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97135\/revisions\/97145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}