The Reaper’s new single ‘Liquid Gold’ kicks in with a hard rock guitar riff that slowly rolls over the ear, builds to monstrous life with a flurry of kick drum, and builds distortion. It’s all pretty standard hard rock fare, until the vocals kick in – something about vocalist Joey Kenny’s voice just doesn’t match up with the typical image of a denim and leather, beer-swilling rocker. That might be because, at just 13, he’s only a few years out of primary school. Young bands aren’t a new phenomenon, and it’s all too easy to simply dismiss them as faddy, gimmicky and largely irrelevant. In the case of The Reaper, that’d be a serious mistake. ‘Liquid Gold’ marks a move from the straight-up thrash of earlier releases to a more diverse sound, with influences ranging from AC/DC and Black Album-era Metallica to newer, more ‘modern’ hard rock bands like Halestorm, or perhaps even Soundgarden!

Although Kenny’s vocals do need some time to develop and lose their somewhat angelic quality, The Reaper are certainly accomplished instrumentalists, as demonstrated by the very competent and cohesive guitar solo ‘duel’ towards the end of the song, and in general, ‘Liquid Gold’ is catchy, hard-hitting, and high octane. There’s definitely room for improvement – the riffs begin to drag slightly towards the end, and could perhaps benefit from a more intelligent sense of structure – but if The Reaper can produce material of this calibre with an average age of 13, I can only imagine how they’ll be sounding a few years down the line.

‘Liquid Gold’ is launched at The Reaper’s gig at O2 Academy 2, Oxford, on 26 October. Also playing are Silent Screams, Dedlok, Empire Divided and Eyes Of Eve. More information at The Reaper website.