Review: Flatwounds – Drain EP
BY COLIN ROBERTS
Flatwounds latest EP, Drain—the four-piece’s third since their 2022 inception— finds the group refining their hard rock style and dialing into the elements that they excel at as a collective unit.
Throughout the EP, Flatwounds bounce between heavier, grittier moments and more subdued, delicate textures; the five tracks spanning a variety of moods and sounds, while still feeling cohesive as a record, rather than a collection of songs. It’s the sound of the Albany-based band fusing all of their influences, while also coming into their own. The grunge influence that hangs as their signature is certainly palpable—it’s heard throughout all of their songs—but particularly in vocalist Colin O’Hare’s delivery.
On a song like opener “Bucket,” the singer can easily conjure the gravelly rasp of Scott Weiland, or the nasally whine of Layne Staley, but what’s most interesting is that he can somehow summon them both at the same time. O’Hare never strays too far out of his low-to-mid-range drawl, but he presents his just-catchy-enough melodies in a manner that keeps your attention.
There’s also a touch of nu-metal on Drain, but not of the rap-rock ilk. A song like “Watch Me Bleed” feels almost like it could have been a minor MTV hit in the early 2000s when baggy-denim rock bands like Seether and Trust Company were sneaking into the pop music consortium. It’s the continued evolution of the choppy riffs that Helmet helped to introduce in the ’90s.
And while the bouncy riff of “The Ladder” might call to mind something like the early days of Staind, the ripping end-of-track guitar solo and the gritty hardcore bass tone suggest something more exciting, which they continually deliver on, over the course the EP’s runtime.
That’s really what Flatwounds do on Drain: offer up ideas that sound familiar, but with closer inspection, belong authentically to the band themselves. The quartet fuse everything from grunge and nu-metal to metal and hardcore, and make it all work. It’s a fine line to walk, but Flatwounds are clearing their own path.
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IN-STORE Q&A SESSION WITH FLATWOUNDS VOCALIST COLIN O’HARE
With Flatwounds’ excellent new EP Drain now available, and a host of upcoming 518 area shows slated in support, vocalist Colin O’Hare took some time to chat with 518scene.com and delve deeper into the band’s history and latest effort.
COLIN ROBERTS: Take me through a brief history of the band.
COLIN O’HARE: Flatwounds was formed in December 2022 after Matt Degnan (guitar) and I played a show together in Saratoga. After the set we mutually agreed that we wanted to make a heavier style of music. Being only the two of us, naturally we booked a show and scrambled to fill in the rest of the pieces in the coming weeks before the show. Matt got a hold of his friend David Granger, who had played bass in his previous band. I was referred to a drummer through a friend of a friend; I got his number and asked if he wanted to jam with us. That’s when Wade Coonrad (drums) joined the band. We wrote like six songs in two rehearsals.
CR: Who would you guys consider your influences? What’s type of sound are you going for?
CO: Some of our influences include Alice In Chains, Avenged Sevenfold, Megadeth, Stone Temple Pilots, Acid Bath, Pantera, and even some J-Pop (Japanese Pop) and J-Metal (Japanese Metal). As for the sound, we really don’t try to go for a specific sound. All of our influences tend to mesh together and we write on the fly. There are times where we reel it in a bit, but only for a sense of direction in the songs, not so much the “it has to sound like this” reasoning.
CR: What’s the writing process like for the band?
CO: Very loose. All of our songs have essentially started from just getting into a room and jamming together. Eventually something sticks and we work out the details of structure and lyrics after the idea is down.
CR: How would you say the songs on this new EP differ from your earlier ones?
CO: From the writer’s standpoint, Drain has a lot more versatility in it than the others. Our roots are still present in the heavier groove of the tracks, but we’ve also explored a more melodic and complex style. Songs like “Watch Me Bleed” and “Jailbird” are good examples of injecting more depth into our sound, while tracks like “Bucket” and “The Ladder” still contain the heavy elements that we love. Overall, I’d say you get a little bit of everything.
CR: Flatwounds seem to have one foot in the hardcore scene, while playing a less aggressive type of music. What’s your relationship with local hardcore?
CO: We’d like to think that the hardcore scene around here accepts us for who we are. There’s actually a quote for a local hardcore venue saying, “No bands softer than Flatwounds,” so I guess we are the baseline for what’s acceptable. The truth of the matter is that there aren’t many bands in the DIY community that have a similar sound to us. We are heavier than a lot of the indie bands that we love, but not as heavy as the hardcore bands we love. But the hardcore scene has represented us really well and we love it, always moshing and moving to even our more melodic tracks.
CR: What do you see going on musically around Albany?
CO: Honestly, we are seeing an explosion of new music coming out of Albany. It’s so great to see. We’re seeing DIY bands graduate to larger venues and tours and new bands coming to take their place every day. The scene here is really great. Everybody wants to help each other, and that’s very rare.
CR: What’s next for Flatwounds?
CO: The immediate plan is to expand our fan base, playing shows within a growing radius. Keep writing music. Planning for a tour, and eventually support a larger act on tour as well. But it’s hard to look too far into the future. We’ve gotta take things one step at a time, and enjoy it.
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Flatwounds will be appearing at No Fun in Troy on Saturday, June 8, with Casket, King Mob and Torpedo Lane. Tickets available here.
