Burning Lady - Until The Walls Fall (Cover Artwork)
Staff Review

Burning Lady

Until The Walls Fall (2013)

Concrete Jungle Records


Burning Lady are a quartet hailing from the town of Lille in France and if the write up on the Concrete Jungle website is to be believed, they're of the street punk variety. Now I'm a finicky old codger and for me, streetpunk can usually be slotted into one of two categories: the first being melodic, tuneful-yet-gritty punk that has some great sing-along moments, whilst the second is more stodgy, mid to slow-tempo, boring punk rock that fails to increase the flow of blood around my body. Fortunately for Burning Lady, the band fall into the former grouping, with the vocals of Sophie providing the most appeal on Until The Walls Fall Down.

In addition to the street punk tag, there are parts of a more upbeat melodic hardcore sound in what Burning Lady do as well. The combination works well overall, and there is some strong musicianship that drives along the songs. There is definitely a Gallic tone to Sophie's husky delivery (which is primarily in English), and the native accent adds a charm to those vocals somewhat akin to her being a punk Edith Piaf.

The standout moments are "Story of My Scene," "Oleti," "Rehab" and "Wasted Time." The latter is an acoustic version of a song originally on the band's debut EP and whereas a lot of groups tack on acoustic songs to albums which add nothing to the record, this is one that really does set itself out as the antithesis of that outcome. It's got a very French feel to it, both through the guitar plus the female/male vocals which are at times in a sort of crooner vein. This track is almost five minutes long and certainly holds me in place whilst it plays out in a very captivating manner.

Until The Walls Fall is a decent debut album, which has a lot of positive, enjoyable qualities. This is worth checking out, both for Sophie's vocals and the version of "Wasted Time" but also just if you like melodic punk rock.