photo courtesy of Second City Sin

Single Review of Second City Sin: “Morose”

Birmingham, England’s Second City Sin is a heavy rock band with a tuneful touch. The band – Tyler Quantrill (vocals, rhythm guitar), Chaz Carr (lead guitar), Neva Bevan (bass), and Jacob Lancaster (drums) – formed in March 2024, with its first single, “Under the Landslide,” dropping in August. “Morose,” the band’s second single, was a February 14th release, a date that fits both the song’s lyric and the song-driven imagery on the single’s cover art.

image courtesy of Second City Sin

“Morose” begins with a slow bass thump and then frenetic axework, setting the stage for the vocals, which are heavy, and at the shouting end of singing, but not quite. The vocals are quite apparently angry, befitting the lyrics, but also tuneful with nuance and emotional power. The music’s tone is more angry and depressed than jubilant, and on that note as well, the vocals are an ideal match. The guitar is distorted and muddy, furthering the heavy mood, consistent with the requirements of “Morose.” As for the lyrics, the chorus begins “Watering a dying rose. Roots dead in the lows. The highs won’t bloom, and I’m so morose.” Hence, the rose imagery on the cover art. It’s not all flower imagery in the lyrics, but between the chorus and the closing lyrics “the petals fall, I wish I was a rose,” well, let’s just say the Valentine’s Day release date was inspired.

Interestingly, there are some spots in “Morose” in which the guitar part opens up a bit, almost lifting the mood, if it were allowed to last. There is also some late-song shredding that suggests serious broad-based skills from the band’s axeman. All of Second City Sin’s skills, it seems, would be useful across a broader heavy rock canvas. Since “Morose” was my first exposure to the band, I wondered if their other songs might not all be so sullen, so I gave a quick listen to the band’s first single, “Under the Landslide.” Sure enough, while the sound is just as heavy, there’s a bit more classic rock flavor, a bit more funkiness in the rhythm, and some cool harmonies. Two songs are still a small sample size, but they show that, while Second City Sin’s style remains aggressive, heavy rock, I’d expect the band’s set list to span a broad enough range of delivery styles to provide a fully entertaining, multi-faceted live concert experience. I mean, your ears are still gonna bleed, but they’ll be more broadly entertained as they do.

With that being said, “Morose” is a helluva song and a terrific introduction to Second City Sin. I’d expect fans of a broad range of hard and heavy rock subgenres to enjoy this headbanging track.

The next step, then – after listening to Second City Sin’s recorded material a few more times – would be to find out how and where to catch a live show. The band seems to keep its linktree updated with upcoming show information, currently listing a headlining spot on a 4-band bill on Friday, May 30th at The Dark Horse Moseley in Birmingham and a spot on Skelta’s undercard at a 4-band show on Saturday, June 7th at The Lab in Northampton.