Forgive me for sounding like a bit of a hipster, but I have been following Walking With Strangers ever since one of the songs from their debut EP Buried, Dead, & Done was posted on YouTube. Basically, it was love at first note. Instrumentally, it reminded me of August Burns Red and With Life In Mind, and the vocals sounded very similar to one of my favourite vocalists, Winston McCall of Parkway Drive. Keep in mind, that was a long time ago and I fail to hear the same resemblance of the vocals in their more recent work. Moving on to their new EP entitled Legends/Untouchables…
The EP opens with “Legends” which was also the first track on their full length that they released last year, Hardships. I notice very little to no difference between the two versions, so I am a bit confused as to why this song would be put on the EP. Nevertheless, “Legends” is still a very good song.
Next up is the instrumental track, “Disbelievers”. I’m going to start off by saying that this is an incredibly soothing interlude, however, it is more suited for a full-length album rather than a 14-minute EP. After “Disbelievers”, we are finally graced with some new material. “Untouchables”, being the only new and original track with vocals on the EP, is by far the best. It has also become one of my favourite Walking With Strangers songs. “Untouchables” opens with a really groovy intro and transitions into a good verse. When the track reaches its climax, Walking With Strangers shows us their more melodic side with a nice solo. The final track on the EP is a cover of the well-known metal band, Slipknot. Walking With Strangers managed to change up “Everything Ends” enough so that it sounds like an original song at times, while still keeping some of the aspects that Slipknot used in the original.
Legends/Untouchables displays some great songs, but the problem does not lie in the sound per se. My quarrel with the new EP is that there is only one new track (aside from the instrumental) and I was really looking forward to hearing much more, even after they had stated on their Facebook page that the EP would only feature two new songs.
