{"id":25546,"date":"2024-11-08T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=25546"},"modified":"2024-11-07T20:37:38","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T20:37:38","slug":"the-virginmarys-the-house-beyond-the-fires-self-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=25546","title":{"rendered":"The Virginmarys &#8211;\u00a0\u00a0\u2018The House Beyond The Fires\u2019 (Self Release)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/111a.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"555\" height=\"554\" src=\"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/111a.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25547\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/111a.webp 555w, https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/111a-300x300.webp 300w, https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/111a-150x150.webp 150w, https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/111a-65x65.webp 65w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 555px) 100vw, 555px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere ain\u2019t no future, Halle-fuckin-lujah!\u201d Spits Ally Dickaty two songs into the magnificent new opus from Macclesfield duo The Virginmarys. That diatribe sums up the frustration, the anger and the pent-up aggression&nbsp;of not just a small-town northern band, but the collective of a whole generation who face an uncertain future in 2024.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right now feels like a time where bands with something to say will shine. Rubbing shoulders with the&nbsp;likes of Ren, Delilah Bon and Bob Vylan, The Virginmarys join a&nbsp;whole host of artists who are pissed off and shouting from the rooftops social\/political commentary, tackling the subject paths others fear to tread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a band who came close to throwing in the towel a few years back, The Virginmarys sound invigorated and ready to take on the world with \u2018The House Beyond the Fires\u2019, their fourth album, produced by Ally and go-to-guy Dave Draper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"VIRGINMARYS - THERE AIN&#039;T NO FUTURE (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO 2024)\" width=\"1140\" height=\"641\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I8AtbcTHUCA?start=1&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The picked chords and sweeping strings of cinematic opener \u2018White Knuckle Ride\u2019 creates atmosphere in the same way \u2018Ends Don\u2019t Mend\u2019 closed the debut album \u2018King Of Conflict\u2019 over a decade ago. Intentionally or not, maybe The Virginmarys have come full circle in that time? Sonically at least the duo retain all the fire and energy of a band on their first record. The big riffs, melodies and powerhouse beats remain as solid as the friendship of singer\/guitarist Ally Dickaty and drummer Danny Dolan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018The House Beyond the Fires\u2019 is a viscous snarling beast from beginning to end. The singles released in the lead up shine strong on first listen. \u2018Northwest Coast\u2019 with its stabbing power chords and bombastic drums is full of northern grit and bleak desperation, like a band teetering on the edge, pulling the pin from a musical hand-grenade with their teeth. It&#8217;s glorious.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second single and second track on the album \u2018There Ain\u2019t No Future\u2019 is quite possibly the best rock song of the year. If MTV was still a music channel, that striking video would be on heavy rotation, it\u2019s a song that should be a standard on rock radio right now. Punchy as fuck, both lyrically and musically. And most recently \u2018When The Light\u2019s Go Down\u2019, with its hi hat count and crunchy riff is about as AC\/DC as you get in 2024, but the infectious melody and songwriting suss of Ally takes it to a different place entirely. The duo weave their sonic tapestry to great effect, creating dark atmospheres with urgent rhythms, effect-ridden guitars and clever use of space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elsewhere, \u2018You\u2019re A Killer\u2019 is dark and edgy, punky goodness, \u2018Trippin\u2019 New York City\u2019 is a funky curveball with killer dynamics and guitars that are sloppy as fuck, right up my street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The intensity builds song after song culminating mid-album with the acerbic \u2018Lies Lies Lies\u2019 a brutal assault on the senses that just makes you wanna turn it up and turn it on.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ally is one of those songwriters that has a knack of creating imagery in his songs and putting you in a certain mind frame, \u2018Where Are You Now\u2019 is a tune that does just that. The loud\/quiet\/loud formula is delivered with passion, emotion and angst in equal measures. The epic \u2018Dance To The City\u2019 then veers towards Trail Of Dead territory, before closer \u2018Urban Seagull\u2019 throws one last curveball.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2018The House Beyond The Fires\u2019 is dedicated to Danny\u2019s father Tommy who passed away last year. He was a big inspiration to Ally in his songwriting and the boys have done him proud.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Equal parts emotive and raging, passionate and powerful, The \u00a0Virginmarys have delivered a masterpiece with \u2018The\u00a0House Beyond The Fires\u2019. A modern rock record that is up there with the best albums this year. Essential listening.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Buy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thevirginmarys.com\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.thevirginmarys.com\/\">Here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Author: Ben Hughes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThere ain\u2019t no future, Halle-fuckin-lujah!\u201d Spits Ally Dickaty two songs into the magnificent new opus from Macclesfield duo The Virginmarys. That diatribe sums up the frustration, the anger and the pent-up aggression&nbsp;of not just a small-town northern band, but the collective of a whole generation who face an uncertain future in 2024.&nbsp; Right now feels [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[1818,1710,1681,1680,1701,819,1833],"class_list":["post-25546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-new-album","tag-rpm-online","tag-rpmnews1","tag-rpmonline","tag-tcb","tag-the-virginmarys","tag-tourlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25548,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25546\/revisions\/25548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}