Small Town America: More Than Conquerors

More Than Conquerors are a Northern Irish band that originate in Belfast. They are made up of Lead singer and guitarist Kris Platt, guitarist Danny Ball, bass guitarist Danny Morton and drummer Jamie Neish, and formed back in early 2009. They are signed to the indie record label Small Town America who describe their sound as "Dirty, rhythmic guitars under-laden with hard-hitting bass-lines and punchy drums in a catchy way that makes sure their audiences' feet stay nailed to the ground. Amidst all the chaos, the melodic vocals grip the listeners emotions." The band have released 2 E.P's so far and are awaiting to release their new album.
   
More Than Conquerors' name comes from the Biblical reference of "More Than Conquerors" which is why they use a range of religious symbolism throughout their band photos, cover art and song lyrics. This religious symbolism is clearly evident in the lyric video for their new single, When the well runs dry, that Kris Platt, the leader singer/guitarist, has produced using a stop-motion app. Throughout this video there is images of a devil-like creature, eerie writing done in red ink that resembles blood, and use of creepy drawings of a demons hand and a skull-like face. This can also be noticed in the use of the chalkboard used which is in the shape of a coffin. At 0:48 in the video we see that there is a photograph of a family standing side by side, however what is very poignant about the photograph is the fact all the faces have ben covered with skeleton faces and there is gravestones surrounding them. At 1:21 in the video you can see a shot of a drawing of two poltergeist type creatures facing each other. This follows along the line of the religious symbols as they seem to represent a death-like figure and a ghost, which ties in with the creepy feel of the video and sound of the single. The drawing is also used as the bands official t-shirt design for their new album. At 2:47 there is a drawing of a demon or the devil therefore emphasising the ongoing religious symbolism throughout the video.

Another thing to be noted about the religious symbolism in this video has to do with the lyrics also, "I only talk to God when there's something I need", this can imply a selfish reason to why the singer speaks to God and also insinuates that the reason for all the dark religious symbols is because whenever he doesn't talk to God his life is consumed with the demons that surround him. 



More Than Conquerors' religious symbolism transfers onto onto other songs they have released, for example it is clearly evident in The Deer & The Fox. In the lyrics for this there is a lot of religious references such as, "the seeds have already been sown" which has links with the parable of the sower, who sowed the seeds (people) on good or bad soil (the path they took on life). Also in their song Hunting for the whale there is the line "Yes, I have my bible in my hand", once more demonstrating how More Than Conquerors use religious symbolism throughout their music.

If we compare When the Well Runs Dry to More Than Conquerors previous single, "A Lion, A Man", we can clearly note that the band have more heavy in terms of their sound, but despite this both tracks fit the same genre and have very similar ties, whether this be a similar sound/intro with the quiet and eerie guitar and then the hard-hitting drum beat kicking in to bring the song into life, or a similar type of video. However, it is clear When the Well Runs Dry shows a more musically talented MTC seeing as they've now found and became more comfortable in their own sound. At the start of A Lion, A Man we see a skeleton mask once more creating a religious front as it can once more symbolise death. This eerie thought is helped with low lighting i.e basically no light at all other than a torch shining on the mask casting creepy shadows and illuminating the face in a horrifying manner. This idea of death is then carried on throughout, as at 0:18 there is the symbol for deadly on the piece of paper. Also the lyrics have strong ties to death, "Never have I seen a lion eat a man, but I've seen a man chopped down trees with his hands" and "How come you can speak of death, the blood and the grave". All the drawings used are dark and haunting, just like the lyrics and sound, which is very similar to When The Well Runs Dry. Once more coffins, demon hands etc. are used and create an eerie ambience when watching the video, and the fact it's a lyric video causes the viewer to stop and think of the meaning behind the song and take in what the writer intended his lyrics to mean.

The cover art between the E.P and When the Well Runs Dry are different in terms of the illustrations i.e the E.P is of a lumberjack with a bears head which refers to their song "A Lion, A Man" in which "A man cut down trees" and also their song "Bear Knuckle Fight", whilst their cover art for "When the Well Runs Dry" refers to the first line of the song, "Kings and Queens of our time". However, they also share similarities in the way both art work have similar backgrounds and both illustrations have come from references in their songs. Both are very striking images and also set expectations up for the listener for a dark sound with meaningful lyrics.

When we compare the E.P and new single together there are a lot of similarities between the two, however if we are to compare these to their first ever E.P, More Than Conquerors, we see a completely different sound, genre and cover art. This sound is more Hardcore/Pop Rock. We realise this is when the band were first discovering themselves and still trying to find a sound they thought they could fit. We can contrast Go on, go on get out with singles from the Boots & Bones E.P or When the Well Runs Dry and see it's almost like a different band and is a more light-hearted sound rather than their usual dark and punchy sound, although it does have certain aspects of this throughout the song. Even the video for Go on, Go on Get out is completely different from the others and instead follows a story of a relationship with occasional clips of the band's performance. Although this is what set the band up to have fans in acts such as Jimmy Eat World, Feeder, Twin Atlantic, General Fiasco, Fighting with wire and Mojo Fury as well as having comparisons to the likes of the great Biffy Clyro.