V98 – ‘Gracious’ — When The Horn Blows

Graciously powerful stuff.

Dublin has been churning out some fantastic bands over this last year or so. If you’re into this new wave of Irish punk, then you need to tune your ears into V98. ‘Gracious’ is the latest single released ahead of their debut EP. As V98 “criticise artificial displays of altruistic public performance,” ‘Gracious’ is a powerful song. The melodic and emotive guitars are littered across the track (and there’s even a guitar solo too!) that is reminiscent of the brilliant but now disbanded Sharks. They are epic and don’t require any flashy licks, otherwise it would be excessive. They serve the purpose of the song. The emotion continues as the verse and chorus come in as the vocals growl with passion and attitude.

The wonderful thing about the Dublin scene is that none of these bands sound alike. Despite ‘Gracious’ being produced by Dan Doherty (Fontaines D.C.), V98 sound like V98. And it sounds great.

Words by Matthew Brocklehurst