When Harpies decide to fire up you can't help but notice them. I guess I've always had a soft spot for the more raunchy end of guitar bands, so when the rumours started flying about on the scene of how good the band were I went out of my way to get one of their demos. I eventually got one from a guy who runs another label here in the city, Alan - his labels called Bearos Records >> www.bearos.freeserve.co.uk. Though he really liked the demo, I think he was worried that they might not fit with the kind of stuff that he likes to put out, and to be honest, this was a fear of mine because they are so unlike anything I've ever released before. But then I just thought sod it - it's my label and I love what they do. Since the release of their first single, 'Deep' and 'Just Like You' in 2003 the band have been busy writing an album called 'Bleed Believe' along with a second single from that album called 'Lie Down'. There's a new single in the offering which should be out called Waitless, and a new studio album scheduled for 2006.

If you want to know more about Harpies try >> www.myspace.com/harpies

>> DOWNLOAD FREE HARPIES TRACK NOW! <<

Previous releases:

Latest release:

LILY WRY - NEW ALBUM

Video:

LIE DOWN

DEEP

MAGAZINE / INTERNET REVIEWS

Harpies - Lily Wry
Yes, yes, yes… When we first heard whispers of the band’s name coming from the sort of circles that generally scream and shout about any amazing new bands on the scene, y’know, before the band actually get a little bit of fame, then their minds change and shout ‘sell out’ to anyone who will listen (unfortunately, most people do), we were worried the current battle-metal scene had moved onto the world of pirates, and yes, we were plagued by a few nightmares of peg-legged guitarists attempting to do the Angus Young duck walk. Fortunately, The Harpies are instead one of the leading protagonists of seriously heavy music emanating from the UK right now.

With a sound that relies more on sheer brutality married with lumbering grooves than any current trend in the world of metal today, the band have ploughed their own path and created an album that never leaves you time to breath and will possess your mind the whole time you’re listening to it. The band harness the sonic malevolence of Mogwai jamming with Cult Of Luna, whilst building their songs into a furious sing & scream-fest that is as heavily crushing as Isis at their best, never predictable and never dull. It’s music you can lose your head to, and with enough of it’s own personality to ensure life long fan-ship from anyone who listens.

In Nicola Honey, they possess a vocalist who can cause your wind pipe to bleed internally if you attempt to replicate her bark, with a similar vulgarity to Walls Of Jerico, but whereas they sound lumpen and tiresome whilst constrained by hardcore’s set-in-stone rules, The Harpies can explore any avenue they wish to come to a truly devilish, conclusion.

The most refreshing thing about ‘Lily Wry’ is how un-commercially minded the band are. There’s no harmony-laden choruses, no hooks of which to plague your mind for days on end, no crossover hit, instead it’s pure bludgeoning from start to finish, whether it be of the aggressive kind, or the sheer otherworldliness that surrounds it. Genius!
Jeremy Chick - www.subba-cultcha.com

Harpies - Lily Wry
Nicola Honey has a mental voice that resounds like a torrent of hard volcanic ash choking the citizens of Pompei. This chick has got the vocals by the balls and is squeezing every ounce of gusto from what’s being offered from her chords. Birmingham babies Harpies have found themselves clearing into the hardcore or even metalcore genre with enough punch to bat down the ox in Conan the Barbarian. This thirteen track album has certainly gripped me in a way that bands like SikTh did and Walls of Jericho or in some ways Arch Enemy. The female vocals which crow and scratch are often, I’m sure, confused with males and I think are something of a novelty still. The album is not entirely focused on bringing us just a raw set of vocals with lovely workmanship on the instruments, but it adds a level of Queen Adreena to it interspersed amongst the tracks which allows for the music to shift in leaps and bounds.

The five piece band have released only two albums in the past four years but this goes to show that what the band is doing is taking the time to create something that will be flawless and pummel the audience with a heavy blow when released. I can say this is the case with Lily Wry. It comes out of nowhere and takes you from the subtle undertones of a calm ocean brimming with devilfish and molesting sharks to the overtone park of pure hate and anger whereupon we are introduced to the undeniable emotional arrowheads which we are to be struck with.

Harpies are a band which will be liked by those who want the raw edge, that raw and fast edge, from music to vocals and form lyrics to production. You can’t beat a band that take years to create something special and when it’s released you have to praise it. Harpies are one of those bands and have come out from under those dim lights of the studio and are taking their centre stage appearance for us all to enjoy. I would definitely recommend Harpies to you for that shift from calm to rough.
Live4Metal.com

Harpies - Lily Wry
After what can only be described as nothing but a successful debut album, 'Bleed' Believe' back in 2004, fans of the 5 piece Hardcore Heavy metal band Harpies, had certain expectations to achieve, and it would seem that they have done a damn well good job of doing just that.

Kicking off with which can only be described as the calm before the storm, the intro aptly named 'Sea Song', places you in to a pleasant peaceful mood, until the guys and vocalist Nicola, shatter it with 'Come Closer'. A song that continuously drifts between Nicola's highly amazing Screaming, then to her soft soothing subtle voice. Another highlight of the new album is 'Seahorses' starting off with such a smooth almost trance like feeling, so relaxed, so mellow, but in true Harpies fashion peacefulness is grabbed by the throat and choked to death, by a combination of shit hot Guitarist action from John and Kieran, a touch of brutalness from Bassist Peter, and the final insult to the niceness from Drummer Leo. It seems their was only room for pure heaviness when it comes to 'Favour This', a track that doesn’t lay off from beginning to end, constant brutality, unlike the previously released single 'Echoes', slowly building up to a climax of heaviness at its best, then dropping down again to that oh so great easiness, before taking you back around on the build up, just like a great rollercoaster.

Harpies - Lily Wry
Plainly it seems that Harpies are defiantly ready to take the hardcore scene by storm, unlike the Harpies of Greek Mythology, this band make for excellent listening.
Ryan Jenkins - PlanetLoud.com

Would it be cheap of me to point out the obvious fact that Harpies rhymes with herpes? I know, I know, but the fact that said CD was passed onto me, making me feel rather uncomfortable and sore, offers me some kind of analogy where there was otherwise none. Though, in actual fact, Harpies are mythical creatures, except, when I think of mythical creatures, I think of awe-inspiring goblins and beautifully wing-ed goat men. Or whatever. Unfortunately, there is not much awe-inspiring or beautiful about this Brummie quintet.

Unless you like incomprehensible metal, in the form of mostly guttural screaming and riffs played on pointy guitars, which, to me, blend into each other, in which case, here's something to make you want to rip your own ears off, if that is indeed the point of this genre. Because I never really grasped the concept. The nearest I got to metal was Korn (yes, the K in their name really was good, wasn't it?). Anyway, let's keep this brief, for pity's sake- the only songs I really liked on this album were "Left of me" and "Man in walls", two lilting and hypnotic testaments to Harpies actual musicianship, the soft vocals just the right touch of despair and pronunciation, the backing track mercifully taking it's time to compliment this. That and the opening track "Sea song" but only because it is literally a thirty-six second sample of wave sounds et al. But, of course, that's not what they're about. Fair enough. I just think that the rest is really just a load of old codswallop. I would have probably had more time for it about ten years ago. I'm sorry but it's not my cup of tea anymore. Nurse, put me back under. I thank you
Anna C - Repeat Magazine

Harpies - Lily Wry
Like one of the most beautiful flowers growing alone in the heart of a mud-covered battlefield, this is Harpies. Named for winged death-spirits of Greek mythology, the literal definition of the word means “whirlwinds” which could never be truer when describing the music contained within “Lily Wry”. It could be that vocalist Nicola Honey has specially reinforced vocal chords that allow her the strength to belt out beautiful notes, blood-curdling screams and hardcore worthy yelps all within 3 minutes and 33 seconds. The band, the backbone, seeped in the hardcore metal teachings of the 90s, right on time, every time! All this well organized madness comes together to make bigger rock bands cry and pack up their gear. Whether they’re giving out samples of the melodic and radio friendly “Seahorses” or the RATM groove of “How Can I Profess” the mood is always consistent and production spot on. Trust us, if this band is let loose on the mainstream world… watch out!
Independentsonly.com

Harpies - Lily Wry
Finally got our hands on the new Harpies album then (50p down the Record And Tape Exchange, no doubt sold off my some journo or radio DJ who got it free and couldn’t be bothered to actually listen). Been out a couple of months but hey, better later than never and when did good music ever come with a sell by date anyway? We’ve always had good things to say about Harpies, well back in their early demo/single days at least, kind of lost touch with the Birmingham band in recent times, completely missed their first album - this is their second. Still the Harpies we knew back then then, that skin peeling metalcore and the abrasive smell of confrontation, scathing brutal beauty yet again. Fronted by the terrifying voice of Nicola Honey, she sounds like she takes no shit from anyone, sounds in complete control – soothing and seductive one minute, ripping your mind apart with her violent aggression the next. Tiresome comparisons to Tarrie B are an insult, Nicola sounds like she’s rip her apart as well. Her band still taste of nu metal, they always did have an edge though, never did have any regard for the rulebook, the light and shade is deliciously dramatic – intelligent progressions, delicate and way left of centre, the obvious route that so many others choose to take is not for these Harpies – shape-shifting charm and calm before the left-field brutal storm of screams and pummelling riffs, some genuinely beautiful moments, bravely different – almost gothy but that’s lazy of me as well, they’re really not that easy to pin down. A million miles ahead of the obviousness of all those girl fronted goth-metal band. There’s some genuinely surprising moments here, this is a quality metal album from a fine band who really deserve the attention of you metalheads far far more than a lot of bands we could mention.
Organ Magazine

Harpies - Lily Wry
The opening track of Harpies’ second full length will certainly lull you into a false sense of security, as ‘Sea Song’ does exactly what it says on the tin. With calming ocean effects and enticing dolphin sounds, it aims to draw you in before ‘Come Closer’, brutally smashes a bottle over your head, then suddenly changes tack and drifts into saccharine-sweet, strummed guitars, replete with hushed, whispered vocal. As soon as you get used to this, Harpies have already left you behind and veered off down another alleyway.

Blending the elastic, oddly-timed riffing and cyclical drumming of Meshuggah with the bulldozing, aural battery of Raging Speedhorn at their most brutally effective might sound tempting enough. However, there is something entirely more progressive at play here, as in ‘Echoes‘, there are touches of the unrestrained, dark atmospheres of Tool, yet married to such lush guitar-work as you might hear in a Cure record.
Nicola Honey’s vocals are absolutely fucking ferocious. At times sounding somewhat reminiscent of My Ruin’s Tairrie B, as on ‘Favour This’, at others coming across like a Death Metal veteran, she really does have a powerful, rather terrifying roar. Yet, like her band, she seems to deal in polar opposites, and will spend as much time singing sweetly, with a haunting, melodious quality.

This juxtaposition adds to the dark and light qualities of guitarists John E. Devlin and Kieran Maloney, who will often break away from the hammering assault to indulge in strange guitar effects and tones, that are at once suffocating, yet evocatively open and expansive. This record really does seem to conjure a sense of the vastness of the open seas, and I am not even entirely sure how Harpies manage such a feat, but it is certainly a real treat for the ears.

This Midlands band are certainly no one trick pony, as becomes evident on the beautifully effective respite of both ‘Left of Me’ and ‘Man in Walls‘. These tracks definitely break the album up somewhat, and prove the band are equally effective whether bashing your skull in or sucking you in with sweet melodies, and they help this 13-track album move along without ever getting boring.
Many bands attempt to straddle the divide between beauty and brutality. Harpies are better at it than most. In Lily Wry, they have fashioned one of the heaviest metal records of the year thus far, yet also one of the most beautifully subtle.
Rocksomething.com

Harpies - Lily Wry
Oh yes! Fans of My Ruin, your day has come again. Well, minus the extra-gothic spoken word bits. Harpies front woman Nicola Honey alternates between singing melodies and screaming her voice box raw in a band that flawlessly executes the British metal sound. The cover art and publicity material touch on the theme of ocean-derived inspiration, but you can forget all that. Just turn it up loud and drown the pain.
SP - Reviwer Magazine

[REVIEW ARCHIVE >>]

[back to top]