What first grabbed my attention about this song was the opening line of the promotional message: “this song is realising that your only pension plan is to die young.” And yeah, I get it. With a crumbling economy and no one in power wanting to fix what’s wrong with our world, The Empty Page have perfectly encapsulated the bleakness of the future in their latest single ‘Death On Our Side’. However, they’ve somehow managed to balance out the desolate outlook with a positive spin – the world’s gonna end, we’re all gonna die (as heard by the title and lyrics), so why not do whatever we want with our lives?
Hailing originally from Manchester but recording inside a converted church in Leeds, there’s a fabulous mishmash of genres that can be heard from shoegaze to alt-rock, but the band always makes it work!
The church’s influence is also evident throughout, such as the sometimes slightly echoey vocals, which add a certain charm to the rest of it, keeping you hooked from start to finish.
I couldn’t write this review without mentioning the simply fantastic guitars that run throughout the track. At the start, the strumming draws you in before we reach the chorus, where they explode, fully stamping the song with The Empty Page’s distinctly irresistible sound to the final buzzing of the end.
The drums also shine through on‘Death On Our Side’, pounding and groovy, they provide the solid foundations on which the rest of the song lies.
With something to suit every palate, I would strongly suggest keeping an eye on what The Empty Page has in store in the future, as it looks like 2026 is going to be a promising year for the band.
Written by Madi Briggs
