Centerfold Amp Up The Energy With New Single ‘The Sting’
Centerfold are an alternative-rock 4-piece based in Liverpool. They’ve been releasing music, according to Spotify, since 2023. They are back with a new single titled The Sting. If you want the Tldr version of this review: heavy, distorted guitar riffs, energetic drum grooves and fills, and a vocalist who can tune into both a soft, melodic register as well as a more aggressive Grohl-esque tone. If you want a bit more in-depth of an analysis, read on.
Overall, the track is great and punchy. The opening hits you with a catchy lead guitar riff that’s present throughout the song, but they never overdo it. The vocals then come in and start to build on the pretty dense instrumentation. I really love all the subtle effects the band/producer have decided to go with, as it all really does add up. For example, when the vocalist comes in you get this cool, quick fade in.
You also get some great delay on The Sting. The chorus kicks in and the progression is really effective, giving all the instruments time to come together but leaving space for some great vocal harmonies great vocal to shine through the mix. At the end of the chorus the drums come out and back in again once verse two hits. It’s similar to verse one in structure, except we get a tease of a breakdown which is to come later. And it does.
After a second run-through of the chorus, we get the full breakdown. It’s an interesting change of pace structure-wise and leads to the vocalist flexing his chops. Really reminded me of those ranges Mark Lanegan can get to, impressive! After the breakdown we get a guitar solo which leads into the final chorus, ending the song.
The Sting has a lot of energy throughout its 3:37 runtime. I want to take this time to compliment the production. The mixing and engineering in particular are spot-on. Levels are balanced and the performances captured to a point where I can’t tell if this has been overdubbed or not. A band like this, capturing the energy of them playing this live is so important to the recording and, in my opinion, difficult to achieve when recording instruments separately. However these lot have approached the recording, they’ve definitely captured what they were going for.
I went back and listened to Centerfold’s older material in preparation for this review, as I feel like context is important with any band. It’s interesting because the vibe is definitely there, but with this new single you can hear the improvement, mainly in the way it’s been recorded and produced. This is not a knock against their other material (Drowning and Last Dance are great, especially Drowning’s bassline), it’s just that you can tell that there has been a step-up in the production which I hope they double down on.
I don’t think a lot of bands in Liverpool are trying to do that desert-rock sound at the moment, so it is cool to see that there still are bands trying to bring some diversity into the mainly indie dominated scene.
The Sting is out now. Follow Centerfold on Instagram @centerfolduk for updates.
Adam Larbi
Photo Credit: Dylan Cox Media
