HotWax - Hot Shock

If you’re even remotely familiar with HotWax, you’ll know that they don’t come to play. Breakout singles ‘Rip It Out’ and ‘A Thousand Times’ unleashed a trio hellbent on destruction through anarchic shouty vocals, hardcore-adjacent drumming, and guitar lines designed to melt faces and open up the pit.

Well, that sentiment is still there in bucketloads on their debut album ‘Hot Shock’, an ode to the pretty mental rollercoaster ride the West Sussex trio have been on over the past four years. ‘Wanna Be A Doll’ was built to get rooms full of fans bouncing, whilst obsessive love songs ‘Chip My Tooth For You’ and ‘Dress Our Love’ snarl with an ominousness that ultimately explodes with stadium-sized riffs and drumlines that keep the band’s collective foot on the gas.

Those traditionally searing punk-rock elements are levelled out by softer, more defined moments of melody. ‘Strange To Be Here’ contains elements of shoegaze as Tallulah Sim-Savage’s vocal swirls through layering and echoes, whilst opener ‘She’s Got A Problem’ thumps through thick grungy guitar lines and throbbing bass. The clearest marker of a band branching out, though, is acoustic closer ‘Pharmacy’, which sees the band take the brave step toward becoming comfortable with the quiet.

Combining the frantic energy of their earlier EPs, the sweatiness of their live shows, and a more melodic maturity, HotWax have created a debut album brimming with swagger and potential for even bigger and better things in the future.