My fellow alt-rock lovers and I are being truly spoiled this week! Today, our gift appears as ‘Force of Habit,’ an eruptive EP from Hereford-based four-piece YŪNGOLD!
The spark for this EP was first struck back in 2022, when bandmates Frank and Oscar were exchanging groovy riffs over an erratic fuzz pedal and coffee in a back garden log cabin. The history of the project alone already tells me that this EP is going to be brilliant! Plus, with the talent of drummer Joe and bassist Ash, I’m more than ready for an EP that promises a head-spinning maelstrom of sonic thunder and chaos. Aren’t you?
Force of Habit
What better place is there to start than the beginning? ‘Centre of the Earth’ bursts onto the stage with a torrent of dark electricity—the guitar plays as if captaining a high-speed chase, complete with an outlaw-esque grit that makes you feel as if you’re listening to the start of an all-out war. Joining the fight, you’ve got some good old, rough and raw vocals that simply ooze angst against the sparking drumbeats. There’s something that you can’t deny when you hear every vocal note: the boys are feeling every ounce of liveliness and emotion that they’re pummeling into their performance.
And man, when the vocals charge into the instrumental break, your ears will be completely windblown (and even that term doesn’t do it justice). What you hear is this anarchic fray between the guitar and the drums, both of which sound as if they are about to burst into flames in their fight for dominance. With the vocals adding surges of fuel to the fire, ‘Centre of the Earth’ is a motley of melodic misfits. From the breakneck tempos to the instrumental mayhem, this track paints a very clear picture of unapologetic discordance and take-it-or-leave-it confidence.
So, YŪNGOLD has definitely made a head-turning first impression. But what else do they have in store with us with their next track, ‘Completely Numb’? Well, this track does a brilliant thing in that it maintains the group’s wildfire energy all whilst showing us a slightly more toned-down side to their style. Don’t get me wrong, the harmony between the drums and the string work is still teeming with gravelly vigour, but there’s undoubtedly a more audible, well…harmony. It doesn’t feel like the instrumentation is battling amongst itself; it feels like every element is building upon each other to create a sound that has a particular kind of coarseness—the kind of coarseness that only real human melancholy can create.
The vocal performance in ‘Completely Numb’ also greatly contributes to this other side of YŪNGOLD that we’re seeing. The vocals have a distinctive, sorrowful, smoky timbre, one that is almost unsettling with how emotive it is. The vocals’ smokiness really drives it home that we’re listening to the drained husk of a heart, and you can’t help but immerse yourself in the emotional exhaustion that permeates across the track’s palpitating rhythm.
As the track continues, there is a haunting irregularity that chips into the melody, born of sudden cadences, a mercurial dark sky of distortion, and deceptive ‘final’ notes. I can’t say I’ve ever heard a track quite like it; it encapsulates emotional turbulence unbelievably well.
Now, let’s talk about the third track of the EP: ‘Fucking for L*ve’ ( I like that ‘love’ is the word that is censored in this title, and it was for that reason that I was especially eager to hear this song). By now, we know that the lads don’t waste any time in hooking us with their hard-hitting killer instrumentals, and that’s exactly how this track starts. We’ve got edgy riffs, crisp drumbeat showers, and lyrics that show off the group’s down-to-earth humour. I love lines like this one: ‘I just learned how to work a fucking washing machine / Pina Colada in a pitcher and it’s all for me.’ It’s not often that I find songs that are so unabashedly honest about what it’s like to emerge into adulthood with absolutely no clue what you’re doing.
What’s even more intriguing to me is that YŪNGOLD can be both humourously honest and deeply evocative in the same song. There’s a line in the chorus that really stuck with me, and that line is ‘I’m making you up / Out of a hundred familiar faces.’ I wasn’t expecting to hear such a heart-rending line about longing and trying to love again in this song, not after the introductory lyrics. With the addition of the vulnerable, smooth vocals and the vibrantly gruff instrumentation, the lyrics carry this powerful square-peg-in-a-round-hole feel that you can’t help but appreciate.
Last but not least, we have ‘Cult,’ a track that delves deep into the theme of obsessive, intense love. This song might just be my favourite from the EP; it reels you in with a shimmery drapery of notes that sound like a dream in that they are far-off and not entirely tangible. Then, when the band’s signature style kicks in with the emergence of the snarling strings and the fleet-footed drums, there is not one beat that’s out of place. The rhythm of ‘Cult’ feels may be less eruptive than we’ve previously heard, but I don’t think this is a bad thing. In other words, there’s just the right amount of polish and grunge.
Incidentally, ‘Cult’ also features my favourite vocal performance, too. With a song that wants to drive home this idea of inescapable, all-consuming love, you need a vocal delivery that submerges you in that dark world, and you have it with YŪNGOLD. The vocals are even spectral in their delicate breathiness and their hazy dynamics. Listening to them, I felt like I was watching someone let themselves slip away for the sake of their love, and honestly, it was quite poignant.
As the track continues, there is this lovely contrast between the vocals, which soften with defeat in such a stirring way, and the fuzzy grumbles of the breathless guitar. Both sound debilitated with emotional burden, and yet they offer such captivating dualities: the divide between tenderness and gruffness and the divide between numbness and resentment. When you get close to the end of this track, the vocals haunt the instrumental’s rhythmic deviation, a deviation that introduces an element of resistance to the track’s texture. For me, this sound reflects exactly how it would feel to try and break out of that intense relationship, and it is so powerfully resonant.
What a way to introduce yourself and your music to the world. This EP is an insane rollercoaster, and it offers exactly what listeners in 2025 want to hear: fresh ideas.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/yungold_band/
ALT: Alt-rock band YŪNGOLD smile brightly while looking into the camera and sitting next to each other on a sofa.
YŪNGOLD
YŪNGOLD, despite being a relatively newly formed quartet, has forged their sonic signature from an inferno of rock-steeped showmanship, airtight brotherhood, and thunderstuck compositions—and believe me, the world is starting to notice. One of the first venues to experience the shockwave that is YŪNGOLD was Hereford’s very own The Jam Factory.
After a killer performance in May last year, it wasn’t long before the lads were invited back to share four new tracks for the bar’s Live from the Little Green Room sessions. (Hint: you can listen to these live sessions on YŪNGOLD’s Spotify. Thank me later.)
Garnering over 1K views on The Jam Factory’s YouTube channel, YUNGOLD’s reach is steadily starting to spread beyond their hometown. Even promoters like Underground Sound are completely hooked on YŪNGOLD’s sound, stating that their riffs are ‘iconic yet 100% unique,’ and as for the band across the board, they have ‘all the fundamentals’ to go the distance and make it big—a sentiment that I echo wholeheartedly.
‘Force of Habit’ is available to listen to right now across all major streaming platforms!
Till next time!