Bandcamp There is a specific kind of heaviness that owes as much to 1994 as it does to Palm Desert, and End of Days lives right in that overlap. Okay You Win are a London four-piece making their full-length debut for Blues Funeral, and while the press shorthand is desert rock, what actually comes out of the speakers is grittier and more grunge-shaped than the tag suggests: big fuzzed riffs, a heaving rhythm section, and David Kirk’s vocals swinging between a strained clean croon and a hoarse, pressed shout. Recorded at The Nave in Leeds with Andy Hawkins, it is a record with genuine muscle and a surprisingly sharp instinct for melody buried in all the dirt.
When the band lean into that instinct they are hard to resist. “Beat Me Down” is the engine room of the album, a nasty, groove-forward stomp with the bass snarling dead centre and Kirk’s shout locked bombproof to the front, the kind of song that would flatten a festival tent. “Own It” closes things on the record’s best-sounding moment, an earthy, late-90s alt-metal swing where the mix finally opens up and lets the drums breathe, the snare cracking woody and the whole thing carrying an honest live feel the louder tracks never quite reach. “The Greatest Lie” shows a softer, more atmospheric side that pays off, and “Smoke” is bold enough to snap its compact first half into a four-minute ambient drift, a strange, gutsy structural swing for a debut single-in-waiting.
The frustration is the sound. For long stretches End of Days is mixed and mastered hot, chasing a modern loudness that flattens the dynamics and pushes the high mids into a brittle, sibilant harshness. Cymbals hiss where they should shimmer, the kick often lacks real low-end body, and several tracks pile the guitars and a woolly bass into the low mids until the definition blurs. “Ten Year Trip” is where it bites hardest, the digital saturation turning the riffs sterile just as the song wants to soar, and Kirk’s cleans sometimes float on a slick of reverb that isolates them from the band rather than seating them in it. None of it is fatal, but it robs a heavy, honest rock record of the punch and warmth its performances deserve.
For a debut, though, the bones are good. Okay You Win can clearly write, clearly play, and clearly bring it live, and End of Days is at its best when it stops reaching for the ceiling and just grooves. Get a warmer, more dynamic mix under these songs next time and this becomes a band worth shouting about. For now it is a likeable, promising first swing, best heard loud with a little forgiveness for the harsh edges.
Desert rock cut with 90s alt-metal and grunge grit, big fuzzed riffs and a rhythm section with real muscle, vocals swinging between strained clean and hoarse shout. The band have a sharp melodic instinct, but the production runs hot: mixed and mastered for loudness in a way that flattens the dynamics and pushes the high mids into brittle, sibilant harshness, cymbals hissing, the kick often short on low-end body, guitars and a woolly bass stacking in the low mids until definition blurs. The wins are where the mix breathes: “Beat Me Down,” a nasty groove-forward stomp with the bass snarling centre and the shout locked to the front, and “Own It,” an earthy late-90s alt-metal swing with a woody snare crack and an honest live feel. “Ten Year Trip” is where the harshness bites hardest, the digital saturation turning the riffs sterile. Gutsy, likeable performances that a warmer, more dynamic mix would have served far better.
Standout tracks: Beat Me Down, Own It, The Greatest Lie
