EP Review: The Speakeasy – Tales From The Moonshiner Part Two: Requiem

Montreal-based skate punk unit The Speakeasy have revealed their brand new, and somewhat lengthily titled, five track EP “Tales From The Moonshiner Part Two: Requiem”, the EP is the band’s first release for Thousand Islands Records and it is now available via digital service providers and on CD . “Tales From The Moonshiner Part Two: Requiem” is the follow up to their self released 2019 EP “Tales From The Moonshiner Part 1: Death Sentence“. It must be said that I’m often of wary of sequels due to their ever diminishing returns, but thankfully this is not Hollywood and this is certainly not the case with The Speakeasy‘s latest release.

An opening squeal of feedback leads you into the frantic melodic hardcore of ‘Whisky Tiger’, the track is a blistering opening to “Tales From The Moonshiner Part Two: Requiem” and it’s momentum carries on into the anthemic ‘Sunday Blues‘. The delicately picked introduction to ‘Down In History‘ lulls you into a false sense of security, however, in classic punk fashion, the song swiftly builds into a driven slab of gruff punk rock, similarly ‘Lord Knows’ kicks in with a sparse bluesy riff before taking the EP off into a new direction with a hit of cantering punk ‘n roll. ‘Requiem‘ brings things to a close with the EP’s most intense and focused track to date, a song that returns to the band’s melodic hardcore roots.

This is my first encounter with The Speakeasy, if I tell you that as soon as I finished writing up “Tales From The Moonshiner Part Two: Requiem” I swiftly added “Tales From The Moonshiner Part 1: Death Sentence” to my collection, that should say pretty much everything you need to know. This is an EP of five perfect slabs of melodic hardcore and punk rock that capture the essence of the origins of the EpiFat sound, but this isn’t an exercise in recreating those halcyon days as The Speakeasy throw additional influences into the mix. Brief flourishes of metal and a rock ‘n roll attitude blend perfectly with the muscular melodic hardcore that underpins their sound, all of which is encapsulated and underlined by the gruff gravelly snarl of vocalist Karl Bullets.

You can stream and purchase “Tales From The Moonshiner Part Two: Requiem” here