21st February 2022

Review: “Say When” by Collected

After four powerful stand alone singles since their inception in 2018 including last year’s “Love and Fury” which is so good we included it in our top #5 singles of the year, it’s safe to say that the debut EP from Liam Brazitis (Vocals), Charlie Day (Guitars), Artis Upitis (Drums), Chris Day (Bass) and Haitch Barratt (Guitars) otherwise know as Collected is in the highly anticipated bracket as the Essex based Modern Metal quintet strive to build on their previous success. From the very start of their career the band have pushed the envelope, in an ever-evolving fashion, drawing on influence from a raft of genres such as progressive metal, hardcore, funk, jazz and synth-wave to give themselves a more rounded sound and broad minded approach so after three years at the grindstone, where does “Say When” find them?

While the sound of Collected is rooted in Metal, with “Say When” the band have largely transcended the genre into a territory that finds them incorporating all their influences and simply creating the music that they want to make, so what you want to call it is up to you. Listening to the opening cut and title track “Say When” and there are flavours of what bands like Faces Of Eve have been doing but with far more complexity, blending DJent fueled guitar work with achingly beautiful clean vocals at the heart of the bands sound. The sing-a-long quality being being of the size that would go down a storm in arena sized venues. Then you have the electronic underpinning deliberately kept low in the mix and funky bass lines offering a far more multifaceted experience than you might expect. “Blindsided” offers more in the guitar department building from a solid set of rhythms as Brazitis sings about mental health and relationship issues with the kind of dark beauty that we can all related to but it’s the DJent bounce of the riff of “Faceless Man” that ignites the fretboard. Rap screams are the last thing one might expect but Brazitis carries them off with sublime skill against the heavier riff backdrop as th EP gets heavier as it progresses. The stunning leads and solo of “Mountains” meaning the band have saved their best until last, the ambient moments adding captivating atmosphere to as things get Progressive in the later half and bringing bands like Dance Gavin Dance to mind. The question really is where do collected go from here? “Say When” is very much the kind of material that offers a gateway into Metal while lyrically offering plenty to think about and the band could easily find themselves facing record executives asking them to dampen down their sound further in exchange for a big money contract. As extremes push out naturally in the future that may happen of its own accord but for now this is an intriguing and wonderfully diverse offering that should open many doors [7.5/10]

Track listing