ABOUT US
“Take A Piece”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

About Us are a hard rock band from India formed in 2019, releasing their debut album ‘About Us’ in 2022, and sophomore album ‘Take A Piece’ in 2024…

…just a mere eighteen months after the bands barnstorming debut! The hard rockers from the land of the Taj Mahal and the Bollywood film industry are back – and hitting harder than ever across forty minutes and ten new songs. About Us are standing tall with countrymen Fifth Note and Girish And The Chronicles, firmly placing India on the worldwide hard rock map – the bands new album a “fusion of the influences and experiences we encountered in our journey as both avid art enthusiasts and songwriters”. And who I am to disagree, ‘Take A Piece’ is as diverse as the colours on a Paint Colour Chart at the local DIY store! There’s hard rock, melodic rock, AOR, snarling aggression and a sharp metal edge too, ‘Come To You’ roaring into life with incredible energy, the band rocking hard right from the off! About Us are doing what they do best – but better! Lots better in fact, for the oomph of ‘Come To You’ sets a new and undiscovered height!

Heights which I reckon are gonna go even higher, as the album rolls on with surprising heaviness courtesy of ‘Endure’ – just try and imagine the groove metal of nineties era Pantera in a hard rock environment, and you may get close to the sound and feel of ‘Endure’. Yet among all the metal inflections here, About Us deliver a melodic rock chorus to reassure us all the band are still a rock band – ‘Legion’ taking flight to roar louder than ever! And still keeping the Pantera influence too, the opening snarl sounding just like Phil Anselmo! Amazing stuff from the Indian rockers, who take ‘Legion’ from metal territory back into their more familiar rock surroundings, all the while pounding the ground with an immense amount of force – the vibrations of which can be felt all over the world! A stunning treble from About Us becomes a quadruple with the heaviest hitting song heard so far, ‘Fire With Fire’ taking no prisoners as it quickly strides across the land with shoulders back and head held high!

With elegance and majesty personified, ‘Take A Piece’ is doubling everything the band accomplished with their debut album, an album that I’m sure is still on many listeners playlists – ‘EVH’ moving the new album into the realm of party anthems! The magnificent sound of AOR fills the air like billowing smoke from a bonfire, the hugely infectious nature of a band like Journey simply pouring outta ‘EVH’ like it’s going out of fashion. I defy anyone to not be sporting a massive grin right now, the happy mood inducing ‘EVH’ surely a certainty for inclusion in the bands live set! And ‘Reels For Eternity’ should be there too, the pace of the album doubling in the space of a split second, About Us showing their progressive rock side to deliver a pace changing tempo changing slab of hard rock with immense sing a long ability! A cracking first half to the album – the second storms ahead with just as much energy and panache as the first, ‘Far Away’ punching hard and kicking harder to maintain the albums overall hard rocking nature. I tell ya readers, if you loved the bands first album you’re gonna go fucking nuts over their second – everything is bigger and better! Stadiums watch out, About Us are coming for you!

‘Cause stadiums is where this brand of hard rock should be heard, ‘Hope’ hitting the ground with more hustle and bustle than any other song on offer. And the mildly aggressive vocals make a return here too, About Us maintaining their phenomenal aura changing, boundary pushing approach to delivering hard rock music! Music that’s taking the world by storm, the band whipping the rock community up into a highly frenzied state – ‘Beautiful Misery’ thundering in to wake up the neighbourhood! And with its incredibly fast paced passages, ‘Beautiful Misery’ is gonna attract metallers into the bands soundscape – ‘Beautiful Misery’ one of those cracking songs that spans multiple genres. And as the final song looms large over the horizon, just time for a quick mention that here is a modern day rock album not to feature the obligatory ballad! And hitting hard with a rougher edge than any other song on ‘Take A Piece’, ‘Fortitude’ is gonna rock every head and stamp every foot of every rocker and metaller on the fucking planet! About Us have just joined King Zebra and The Gems as the strongest contenders for the title of this years Rock Album Of The Year.

Overall, an immensely energetic romp, ‘Take A Piece’ is heavy hitting hard rock with a sharp metal edge and a sky high infectious level.

TRACKLIST

Come To You
Endure
Legion
Fire With Fire
Evh
Reels For Eternity
Far Away
Hope
Beautiful Misery
Fortitude

https://www.facebook.com/AboutUsNagaland

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