EP review: SNAYX – Better Days

Better Days is a defiant, snarling lip in the face of adversity. Brighton-based trio SNAYX have been throwing out big tunes like no-one’s business for a minute now, and this new offering arrives hot on the heels of their Weaponised Youth: Part 1 EP, which earned the band high praise when it dropped just last year.

Excitingly, they’re just getting started. And this time, they’re taking aim at bad mates, bad systems, and bad leaders, but looking ahead with a glimpse of hope for a better future. With the same British lippy lyricism as SOFT PLAY and fuzzed up instrumentation similar to Royal Blood, this EP packs in plenty of attitude across just four tracks, with each one carrying across as an intentional passion project, driven with frustration at stagnation among society.

Chunky and thick with low end, fuzzy guitar, the opening title-track sees vocalist Charlie Herridge slamming down lyrics that examine the company around him – ‘I need better friends and faces’ – and lays bare a sturdy spine of blaring British modern rock.

King, however, adds a different tone. Bringing in a swirly, down-the-rabbit-hole feel, the band appear to prod at power imbalances, poverty and unhappiness. It delivers tip-toeing keys, clunky bass and trippy synth in a swaggering and disorientating slower paced offering.

Better Days is an exploration of a stifled society stuck in a rut, and a critique of UK politics and policies. It calls for healthier futures to motivate its youth, and a need for widespread change. Each song lies on a bed of SNAYX’s signature soundscapes: raw and spitting vocals, beefy instrumentals and an overall arch of “fuck the system”. These SNAYX are venomous, with a bite that you’d be sorry to ignore.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: SOFT PLAY, Kid Kapichi, Royal Blood

Better Days is released on February 9