Manchester four-piece Hiatus have been stalwarts of the Northwest scene for four years now.  Their self-funded debut album arrives on the back of some exhaustive touring schedules, where they have supported everyone from earthtone9 and Rival Schools to, gulp, Wheatus!  They have climbed, workman-like, from playing universities to coming third in Europe and Canada’s biggest unsigned band competition, Emergenza, to being championed by XFM.  The real trick is the debut album though, and whether it delivers on all that promise… 

Well, it just about does!  Lead track “Panacean” swaggers into your room, not afraid to employ some radical time-changes, and sounding like The Black Crowes if they’d been from the Kyuss-soaked deserts of California.  “Another Side” also impresses, the scuzzy guitars and tempo changes beginning to set these guys apart from the rest of the crowd nicely.   

Only occasionally do Hiatus stray from the safe path, usually when they drift off into the ballad badlands, like on “Far From Sleep” or where the lyrics leave a bit to be desired and come across as unintentionally hilarious (“soap on a rope and no hope in your soul” from “Ambition Killer” for example had me scanning back furiously to see if that’s what I had really heard!). 

Ultimately, Hiatus have produced a debut that is much better than this reviewer expected it to be, mainly because it bravely dispenses with any parka-wearing, monkey-boy posturing and therefore sounds a million miles away from anything else to come out of the Northwest.  With a little hand-holding on the lyrics front and some well-chosen words about the frivolous use of the “rock ballad”, Hiatus could be the foundations for a whole new Manchester scene – one that soundtracks a sultry summer night and smells of bourbon.

Contact: www.myspace.com/hiatus 

Track Listing

Panacean
Ambition Killer
Break The Silence
Another Side
This Is Your Kingdom
What I Take From You
Far From Sleep
A Genuine Way
Jenni's House
'96
Hold The World To Ransom
One Track Mind

Line Up

Dominic Stannage - Vocals
Paul Bowe - Guitars
Gaz Bowe - Bass
Danny Rigg -Drums