Artist: Aiden Hatfield
EP: Chapter One
Genre: Rock/ Alternative
Country: UK
Release date: 15th of March 2019
Released via IMWT Records
Cover artwork © IMWTRECORDS LTD 2019
When we launched our blog recently, one of our main motives was to discover and get into contact with bands, artists and labels out of any kind of music genre, even genres we might have perceived only marginally so far. From this perspective, I got into contact with Aiden Hatfield, his music and above all his supportive efforts regarding mental health issues. This is why, in addition to his recently released EP, I want to draw a little attention to these activities as well and also take these aspects into account for this review.
Aiden Hatfield is a multi-talented musician from Leeds (UK) and he already played in several bands for over 10 years such as utoXator, who split up in 2018. By starting his solo career he now has full control over his creative visions as an artist, and you can unmistakably hear this aspect in his music, which is deeply connected to his personality and passion. To strenghten his position as an independent artist, Aiden started his own label IMWT Records, on which his first EP Chapter One was released on 15th of March, 2019.
Apart from his efforts as a musician, Aiden runs his own cloathing brand called In Music We Trust, whose designs emphasize the value of music as medicine and how music can help coping with any kind of mental challenges in life. A big part of the profits run into a fund raise for the Mind Charity, which offers help and support for people dealing with mental health issues such as depression, phobias, psychosis and self-harm, just to name a few.
However, what stands above all these artistic activities is his commitment to those who are struggling with mental health issues in all its forms. Aiden himself suffers from depression, which makes it all the more admirable that he makes this big effort to take this issue out into the world and encourage other people to do the same. He is very active on multiple social media channels and mainly raises awareness for the topic on his weekly live streams, in which he gets into contact and interacts with his followers. I’ve watched his streams a couple of times and I have to admit that it’s pretty remarkable how Aiden makes people feel not being alone with their issues and being part of a caring community. Keep up the good work!
Since we are a blog focussing on music, I finally want to focus on Aiden‘s EP, which stylistically fits best into professionally recorded Alternative Rock music with some discreet Pop-Punk influences here and there. What definetly sticks to my mind the most after the first listening are the terrificly produced guitars and Aiden’s emotional vocals, which shine mainly in the catchy and powerful chorusses.
Chapter One starts off with the first single release “This is Never Ending”. Impressively crunchy guitars, soulful vocals and a memorable chorus, which definetly remains in your ears. This is everything you need for a great energetic hard rocking opener. In between, the song gets graded up by a decent guitar solo and even a spoken-word passage, which is unfortunately overlain by the chorus. Thus, it is pretty hard to follow Aiden’s words, at least for me as a non-native English speaker.
“Say it again” has a pretty soft beginning, but when the drums burst in, the song quickly jumps into a Pop-Punk-ish section. Once again, the listener gets confronted with an extremly melodic and catchy chorus. All in all the song has a really positive vibe and I have to admit, the spark jumped over to my mood immediately. Very nice!
The next two tracks, “I Never Cared” and “Fallen to Pieces” bring some more variety and dynamics into the more classical song structures. This is mainly achieved by the diverse guitar work and Aiden’s vocal style ranging from a little softer and emotional up to more intense and thriving, which mainly is used for the strong chorusses.
The EP is ended with the quite heavy “This Horror in Me”, driven by the crunchy guitars and pounding drums. What again stands out also on this song are the outstanding vocal lines, which really drags the listener’s focus towards the emotional and genuine lyrics. Especially in the part singing chorusses, this is a very strong stylistic element.
All in all, Chapter One is a really outstanding first release, which is mainly characterized by Aiden‘s accomplishments putting together songs with a decent instrumentation on the one hand and the emotional depth, passion and experiences put into words and vocal lines on the other. In order to express the songs also visually, three videos were shot in which the focus is mainly on the essential, it’s Aiden, his lyrics and his music. I am really excited about what the future will bring regarding Aiden’s musicianship. If he can achieve to implement more diversity and dynamics in his songs, I am pretty sure he can continue to succeed on a full-lenght record as well.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
8/10
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