The anthemic candour of Midlands four-piece Max Raptor fuses classic British punk attitude with an astute sensibility to a ballsy riff, forthright narrative and infectious hook-fuelled chant. Having spent the last year touring, playing live and writing and recording debut material, building up a head of steam, a reputation for raucous and energetic live shows and a UK fan base in the process, Max Raptor are set to follow up their first two single releases (‘Ghosts’ in Oct and ‘The Great and the Good’ in March last year) with their debut 8-track mini-album ‘Portraits’ on 11th April ’11 through Naim Edge Records.

‘Portraits’ track listings:
1. The King Is Dead
2. The Great And The Good
3. Beasts
4. Obey The Whips
5. Carolina
6. Patron Saint (Of Nothing)
7. Ghosts
8. The Alarm

Max Raptor’s debut mini-album ‘Portraits’ is exactly that: micro-sketches of society, framing scraps of the world around them, painting with ambition, arrogance, anger, disillusion, greed, joy, futility, violence and pride. From alcohol abuse to domestic violence, from maddening jealousy to plain ineffectuality, ‘Portraits’ illustrates humanity’s divergent weaknesses. As explained by front man Will Ray; “Hysteria is a state of panic but it is also a word we use often to describe a state of joy. ‘Portraits’ says that from the rich to the poor to the famous, we all have a capacity to hate and to do wrong, and if we cannot celebrate that unanimity in music…well…I hate you all.”

Max Raptor, in their mid-20s, admit the nu-metal era was a gateway to the essential alternative listening they treasure today; including the classic punk of The Clash and The Buzzcocks, new-wave of The Jam, pop-edge of Manic Street Preachers, post-stadium riffage of The Foo Fighters, not to mention the raw extremities and energy of contemporaries such as Zico Chain, Cancer Bats and The Ghost Of A Thousand.

‘Portraits’ is rammed full of short, sharp and snappy portrayals of modern existence. The King Is Dead, Beasts, Carolina and The Alarm chronicle a plethora of dysfunctions with a colour of inevitability, whilst Obey The Whips underscores the decline of our ‘empire’ with a wry nationalist cry. The unruly mob vocals of Patron Saint (Of Nothing) depict our embarrassing obsession with celebrity culture, the narcissism that it breeds in our youth and the decay it creates when we forget to live our real lives. The convulsive Ghosts is a sobering realisation that (surely) everyone has at least once in their life; ‘I am worthless’, whilst the infectious anthemia of The Great And The Good reduces totalitarian rhetoric to a clichéd moshpit mantra.

Max Raptor are – Will – Vocals / JB – Guitars / Tom – Guitars / Matt – Drums

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