{"id":31100,"date":"2013-07-30T22:14:42","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T03:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=31100"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:36:52","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:36:52","slug":"ragdoll-here-today-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/ragdoll-here-today-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Ragdoll | Here Today<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Matt Karpe<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"RagdollAustralian trio Ragdoll\u2019s second EP Here Today<\/em> picks up where their promising debut release left off- with explosive and fascinating melodic hard rock.<\/p>\n

Starting off, title track \u201cHere Today\u201d is a gigantic hard rock anthem. Guitarist Leon Todd\u2019s excellent modern rock riffs are accompanied by some pulsating drumming from Cam Barrett. Vocalist and bassist Ryan Lafferty has a good diverse vocal range, as his rough and ragged singing on the verses make way for some strong, melodic and in places, classic rock style tones on the chorus. The chorus itself is catchy and contagious and it leaves you singing along upon the very first listen.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell Me\u201d has some funk laden hard riffing, bringing to mind early Audioslave, and with some more good drumming and another memorable chorus, it\u2019s a close contender for the EP\u2019s standout track.<\/p>\n

\u201cCould It Be Love\u201d is, as the title suggests- a slow ballad. A soft consistent drum beat entwines with some subtle guitar playing from Todd, and although of slow tempo, Lafferty\u2019s vocals are strong and dominating- definitely a good thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeaven Above\u201d is a seven minute case study showing just how far Ragdoll have progressed in such a short space of time. A funky bass line is evident before some crunching guitar riffs take control. Barrett\u2019s drumming is hard and fast and some of his best on the album. We have to return the focus to Leon Todd though, as his guitar work is simply astonishing- in the last half of the song especially. It\u2019s guitar solo galore as he takes center stage to let rip all kinds of effects and distortions. It feels like he is playing live to an audience in between songs, just playing whatever his head and heart tells him, and it\u2019s brilliant.<\/p>\n

\u201cOvernight Sensation\u201d ends the EP with some blues influenced rock, slightly tinged with sleazy glam rock, but again, Ragdoll pull it off with another good chorus.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t often a five track release amazes and stuns, but Ragdoll have done just that with Here Today<\/em>. They have come such a long way since their first EP, with the production and song writing being so much more polished. There is good variation in the tracks, and great musicianship between the three band members. <\/p>\n

This early into their career, Ragdoll have already set the bar so incredibly high, and from what\u2019s on show on Here Today, Ragdoll will be HERE for a very long time. <\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nRyan Lafferty- Vocals\/Bass
\nLeon Todd- Guitars
\nCam Barrett- Drums<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tHere Today
\n2.\tTell Me
\n3.\tCould It Be Love
\n4.\tHeaven Above
\n5.\tOvernight Sensation<\/p>\n

Record Label: Beautiful Disaster Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.ragdollrock.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Matt Karpe – Columnist — Australian trio Ragdoll\u2019s second EP Here Today picks up where their promising debut release left off- with explosive and fascinating melodic hard rock. Starting off, title track \u201cHere Today\u201d […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":31101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[336,2847,6156,334],"class_list":{"0":"post-31100","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2013","8":"tag-cd","9":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","10":"tag-ragdoll","11":"tag-review"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}