About Us - s/t

[Stefan]

 

Debut album out November 11 through Frontiers.

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Edited October 24, 2022 by Stefan

[zacharyamelie]

Vocals are good

gang vocals really good

Musicians are great 

still odd seeing an Asian band play Scandi/Euro style rock but the more the merrier. 

my biggest concern are the songs. Like 91 Suite…the ingredients are all there but the final result is lacking robust songs that kick ass. The two sample tracks are ok but nothing more. Plus signing to Frontiers sure doesn’t mean the song writing will necessarily improve…the ADV effect.

Not sold but will certainly investigate more. 

 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

We finally got a release date! Nice. I want this!!

[Stefan]

This was released in India last year and now it's getting an official release at least in Europe.

Review from viriaor.wordpress.com:

About Us come from India, a country about which we know very little in terms of Hard Rock culture, and very recently we met them while watching the video of one of the two singles released so far.

The debut album, homonymous and was released in 2021, contains elements that range from Hard to AOR, with some very subtle Prog touches, rounding off a surprising result.

“Right Now” opens the album, and we have already familiarized ourselves with it, going for the melodic side, and with some outstanding arrangements that are going to be a common currency in the rest of the songs.

“Gimme Gimme” has one of the hookiest rhythms of this sextet, which has been awarded the Musician Gild 2021 award as “Best Rock Artist”.

Going through more metal paths, we find “Rise”, where its vocalistSochan Kikon shows the power with a sharp register to highlight. Later, songs like “Our Fairyland” and “Led My Heart” mix a bit of the styles described so far, obtaining very good results.

Something to note is the lack of choirs, since there are very few and they would raise the songs even more.
The Prog side appears in the riff of “Rock On Top”, and it is very well brought to the hard side, as we get into the song. Arriving at «Golden Troops», this shows us a more aggressive side, reminding me of the Five Finger Death Punch.

Surprisingly, after the attack of fury of the previous song, “Loaded Love” appears, with the purest AOR and it didn’t take long for me to get hooked immediately! And it gives way to the closing of the album, with the ballad “Open Your Heart”, in which the keyboards (with the usual orchestral touches) and the voice prevail.

It is a pleasure to be able to discover music from places that until now we did not know. And if it is also of the quality of About Us, much better!

 

Snippets from the other songs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Stefan

[Stefan]

New 'premiere' for 'Right Now'.

 

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by Stefan

[Geoff]

Really happy for these guys that they got a record deal. The album's quite eclectic, but the best parts are excellent. Do I understand the release is only the songs from the album released last year? Would have loved to hear a couple of new songs on it too, personally. 

[Eric3]

This pleasantly surprised me. Sounds fresh and energetic and the singing is amazing! Very Scandi style which I'm 100% on board for. Can we forget about that album Treat released earlier this year and substitute this one instead? 

[Ponen]

11 hours ago, Geoff said:

Do I understand the release is only the songs from the album released last year? Would have loved to hear a couple of new songs on it too, personally. 

Yes I think so, the only new material is an acoustic version of their song "Our Fairyland" for Japan. 

[KarpetRydOFunk]

5 hours ago, Eric3 said:

This pleasantly surprised me. Sounds fresh and energetic and the singing is amazing! Very Scandi style which I'm 100% on board for. Can we forget about that album Treat released earlier this year and substitute this one instead? 

Can we not have both?

[auslander]

The singing on a few tracks put me off initially but then I started to dig it.

Edited August 24, 2022 by auslander

[auslander]

Should add that the "Right Now" song is one of the best tracks of the year. Great great stuff.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

15 minutes ago, auslander said:

The singing on a few tracks put me off initially but then I started to dig it.

You prefer instrumentals? Don't let Geoffrey know. ;}

[KarpetRydOFunk]

20 hours ago, Stefan said:

New 'premiere' for 'Right Now'.

 

 

Isn't this exactly the same as before? Only Frontiers got to stamp their logo at the end? 

Anyway, the song's still awesome, and that guitar solo is still fire! Pretty much exactly what a solo should be: not pointless wankery, but actually musical and elevating.

Also, I can't recall if I asked before, but what happened to the dude's arm? Was it in a cast/arm brace, or did he lose it recently?

[Ponen]

1 hour ago, KarpetRydOFunk said:

Isn't this exactly the same as before? Only Frontiers got to stamp their logo at the end? 

Anyway, the song's still awesome, and that guitar solo is still fire! Pretty much exactly what a solo should be: not pointless wankery, but actually musical and elevating.

Also, I can't recall if I asked before, but what happened to the dude's arm? Was it in a cast/arm brace, or did he lose it recently?

Saw them live recently, can confirm its very much intact lol. But I was told he has 2 to 3 fingers missing on one of the hands. 

[Thomas/Coastline]

What? Asian Indians doing cheesy generic Swede-MHR/AOR really well! Nice to see and hear.

[CMGiordano]

Awesome arrangement. Leaves me wanting a little more, though.

[Stefan]

From Frontiers:

Frontiers Music Srl is pleased to announce the signing of About Us, an exciting new melodic hard rock band hailing from Nagaland, India, and more specifically from a district in the state of Nagaland called Wokha (‘Land of Plenty’). Their Frontiers' debut, a self-titled release, will be released on November 11, 2022.

The band first formed in the winter of 2019 with the members coming from varied musical backgrounds. The members of About Us had been performing for the last 15 years or so in different bands and projects before coming together. Their collective musical taste varied from blues, AOR, hard rock, and so on, all of which is reflected in their self-titled debut. The band released their first single ‘Loaded Love‘ in late December 2020, followed later by another single, ‘Rock Is Back’, which was heralded by the editor of a popular daily in their area, Morung Express. The band then released their first music video, “Gimme Gimme” in late April 2021, which reached almost half a million viewers in just a short time. The song subsequently won two back to back awards in the Best Rock category at the MG Nagaland Music Awards (June 23, 2021) and the Music Awards of Nagaland (October 16, 2021). Wrapping up a busy 2021 for About US, the band released their self-titled debut album in their home country and a second music video, 'Right Now'.

The band then came to the attention of Frontiers Music Srl, who loved the band's non-traditional approach to melodic rock and quickly moved to make the band an offer to join their roster. Subsequently, the band's self-titled debut and the accompanying music video will be re-released on a global basis in 2022.

Tracklisting:
1. Right Now
2. Gimme Gimme
3. Lead My Heart
4. Our Fairyland
5. Loaded Love
6. Rock On Top
7. Rise
8. Golden Troops
9. Open Your Heart
10. Love And Affection (Bonus Track)

Line-Up:
Sochan Kikon - Vocals
Renlamo Lotha - Guitars
Pona Kikon - Guitars
Soren Kikon - Bass
Renbomo Yanthan - Keyboards
Yanni Ennie - Drums

 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Stefan

[auslander]

Is India the new Sweden? 😉 well 2 bands is a start! I really like what I hear from this band. Another must get cd.

[Captain Howdy]

Gah, the search function on this site failed me. Searched "About us" including the quotation marks and it came back with nothing, so posted in the music video forum earlier.

[Captain Howdy]

On 8/23/2022 at 10:09 PM, Ponen said:

Yes I think so, the only new material is an acoustic version of their song "Our Fairyland" for Japan. 

Typical Frontiers these days. Gone are the days we got actual bonus tracks, replaced by acoustic, piano or live versions etc

[Stefan]

Premiere for the new video 'Our Fairyland' on Monday.

 

 

[Stefan]

So good it must be posted twice, eh Captain Howdy?!

[Captain Howdy]

48 minutes ago, Stefan said:

So good it must be posted twice, eh Captain Howdy?!

I wonder what the music video forum is for?

[Stefan]

34 minutes ago, Captain Howdy said:

I wonder what the music video forum is for?

That's what I'm wondering too!

[KarpetRydOFunk]

2 hours ago, Captain Howdy said:

I wonder what the music video forum is for?

It's just so @Dead Planetcan get his post count up. ;}