By: Vandal Truong
Rating: 10/11

Paul and The Patients' debut To the Lions is a mixture of hard, old school punk with catchy, rhythm rock. The EP starts off with a firecracker bang in song "Complaint 15." From there the band shows their range with "Well Done You World," an anthem of sorts to the setting of blurred memories of late night outings in poorly lit bars. The hardest track is "The Other Side," an assault of pure rock. With a lesser band this song could have settled for just a loud, blistering jam, but Paul and The Patients crafts a song that is filled with emotion amid slashing guitars and a catchy melody.

Dave Greenwald (drums), Jay McBride (guitars), Pete Swan (bass), and Josh Ascalon (synths, vocals) make up the incredible set of musicians known as The Patients. Paul Holmes (lead vocals, guitar) has stated he began writing as a means of purging the emotions and thoughts he held within. It is this dedication to lyrics combined with amazing hooks and bruising garage rock-soul that make this album truly special.

So many bands play hard and fast but very few are smart enough to create songs that stay with you after the amps are turned down. Every now and then a band comes along that is both hard rock and intelligent. Paul and The Patients are wise to remind us: less is more. The arrangements are not complicated as most songs fall under four minutes. The lyrics are simple yet contain raw emotion, exemplified in The Smiths sounding "Blogspot" ("You done your very best/ gonna put it to the test"). All the songs on To The Lions are short and sharp and will have any crowd dancing around. Their official EP release show is June 19th at Cake Shop, in New York's Lower East Side.