How many bands with numbers in their name can you think of in 5 seconds?
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.
I got Nine Inch Nails, Sum 41, 30 Seconds to Mars, and… that’s all I could muster in just 5 seconds. I have hard time thinking under pressure.
Anyway, Five Ways to Nowhere is a Hard Rock band from Italy who have recently released an album called ‘Bite Hard’. We had the pleasure of listening to ‘Bite Hard’ and writing a review about it.
Also, we had the chance to chat with the vocalist of Five Ways to.. WAIT A MINUTE! THEY HAVE A NUMBER IN THEIR NAME! Damn. So as I was saying, I had the chance with Charlotte Esse, the vocalist of Five Ways to Nowhere.
Click here to jump straight to the interview with Charlotte.
Review
‘Bite Hard’ is a 30 minutes long album of 9 songs full of exciting Hard Rock riffs and strong vocals. Here are four things we loved about ‘Bite Hard’.
1. The solos
One of the best instances in a Rock/Metal song is when the vocals and other instruments pause or play a rhythm while the lead guitar’s sound rises and a begins playing a stunning solo. ‘Bite Hard’ is fully loaded with these instances with almost every song having a stunning guitar solo. Our favourite ones are on Love to Hate, Over the Line, and Mr. Grey.
2. The album arrangement
The arrangement and order of songs in an album plays a huge role in the experience fans face when they listen to it. That was made magnificently in ‘Bite Hard’. The album opens with a fast rocking song, Love to Hate, that has a wonderful riff. None of the other songs in the album would have been more suitable to open with. Another example of the brilliant arrangement is in the switch from Mr. Grey and Twisted to Vodka Queen. After two songs with somehow different styles but sharing a heavy sound and fast riffs, we weren’t showered with another fast and heavy song. Instead, Vodka Queen begins with a softer and slower sound until it bursts into the album’s sound again. These brilliance changes in sounds and their arrangement made the record enjoyable to listen to from the first till final track.
3. The choruses
‘Bite Hard’ is fully loaded with wonderful choruses that peak our excitement. The choruses are very energetic and fueled with emotions reflected by Charlotte’s beautiful performance. One of the best choruses are on Obsessed, Mr. Grey, Vodka Queen and Slowmotional.
4. Favourite Song: ‘Mr. Grey’
This is one of the songs the crowds go crazy when performed. Mr. Grey has a beast guitar solo in the course of the second minute and a gorgeous sound all over it. Charlotte’s vocals are also one of the things that make it very exciting as they entwine with the heavy riff. Great stuff!
‘Bite Hard’ is a good Hard Rock album that would be great to just put it on full blast and bang your head to after a long day at work or in school. We recommend it to Hard Rock and Punk Rock fans as it has elements that would be pleasing for both!
Ratings
The FemMetal Team has given the album the following rates:
 | Betty |  | 6.0/10 |
 | Mirk | | 7.0/10 |
 | Rebecca |  | 7.5/10 |
 | ||
| Total | | 7.0/10 |
Interview
We chatted with Charlotte from Five Ways to Nowhere and talked about music and other stuff. Hope you enjoy this interview!
| Hello Charlotte. It’s a pleasure to talk with you. How are you and the other members of Five Ways To Nowhere? | |
 | Hello Mirk and hello dear readers! My pleasure! Everything’s pretty OK here. I mean, it looks like we are all healthy till now. No more money in the pocket because of the hard situation and the lock-down due to COVID-19 but, we are still standing and still rocking hard as always. |
| That’s great! We’re going to talk about your new album ‘Bite Hard’. But before we do so, would you like to tell FemMetal readers a bit about your band? | |
| Well, I don’t wanna bore the readers, writing down here our “standard” bio. Let’s see if I’m able to do that, dear rockers and metalheads 🙂 Five Ways To Nowhere was born in Torino (Italy) in 2015. Over the years we played a lot of shows in Italy and over Europe, we spent a lot of time in the studio, we had so much fun and we fought a little bit too. In the end, I play with 4 guys…I have to stand up for myself. It’s a hard job, as you know, Mirk:-) Getting more serious: I think that one of our peculiarities is that each one of us comes from a different musical path and had different experiences. That’s the reason why Five Ways To Nowhere is a mix of Hard rock and Metal with a Punk attitude. This probably means that the “Nowhere” we are talking about, is a place where all these influences meet. |
| ‘Bite Hard’ is a very heavy and exciting album. How would you describe the style of Hard Rock you present on that album? | |
| First of all, thank you Mirk! It’s never that easy to judge and describe your own music. It’s much simpler to have an opinion about other musicians job 🙂 This album in not easy to be labeled up to me. There are some tracks that have a sort of punk rock vibe while others are definitely more oriented to Hard Rock and Metal styles. If I should find a way to describe it, I would say ‘Modern Hard Rock/Metal’. It’s a bit too long but, it’s the best I can do. |
| What do you think makes ‘Bite Hard’ special or different from other Rock albums? | |
| Listen to it, dear readers! And you will understand why it’s different from anything else you ever listened to before 😉 |
| I did! And it is! To talk more about ‘Bite Hard’ and maybe excite the readers who haven’t heard it yet to do so, let’s play a game. I’ll ask you to pick a song to do a specific job in this ‘Which song’ game. Which song on ‘Bite Hard’ would you recommend to someone who never heard your music before? | |
| Let’s make it real and Let’s play my game. Dear readers, please listen to these 3 songs from the album ‘Bite Hard’ from Five Ways To Nowhere: ‘Wildstyle’, ‘Mr. Grey’ and ‘Over The Line’. 3 different songs with 3 different attitudes. Please let me know which song (if there’s one) represents you most and why. |
| Which song on ‘Bite Hard’ would you use to explain what ‘music’ is to an alien from a planet that doesn’t have music? | |
| Wow, that’s a huge responsibility. First of all I’m not sure Aliens have feelings. In case they don’t, I would first recommend them a book: “THE COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO MUSIC THEORY”. After that soft approach, I would tell to my Alien friend to listen to ‘Slowmotional’. It talks about people “alienation” so, he should love it and in case he doesn’t, it means I gave him the right book to read. |
| If the songs on ‘Bite Hard’ became people, which would be your best friend? | |
| ‘Vodka Queen’ for sure, I’m pretty sure I could have lot of fun with her. |
| Which song on ‘Bite Hard’ would you sing to a friend who is upset and needs some encouragement? | |
| It would be ‘Over The Line’. Sometimes screaming out your anger and your disappointment can be more than helpful. That’s why I would tell her/him to sing it with me as loud as possible. |
| Machines with artificial intelligence take over Earth and decide to wipe up humanity because they believe ‘we’re not worthy’. To defend humanity you are asked to play one song from ‘Bite Hard’ to convince them of the value of the art humans create. Which song would that be? | |
| Let me tell you a secret Mirk: I agree a little bit with the artificial intelligence about the fact that sometimes we are not worthy but, for sure, there are men and women that, since the beginning of time, gave their huge contribution to arts. These people devoted their talent and their genius to it. I really don’t think me and my band can be one of those that could convince a “sceptic intelligence” about the value of human art, but, if I had one shot only to convince them, I think I would play ‘Roll the Dice’. |
| Thank you Charlotte for playing this game! Do you remember the first time you performed live on stage? What are the feelings you remember from that moment? | |
| Thank you! It’s been funny. Oh yes, I do remember my first live show like it was yesterday and the right word I wanna use to describe the feelings of that day is PANIC. I performed in a huge pub, full of people. I was terrified, really. ‘At first I was afraid, I was petrified’ (cit.), but after a couple of songs, it started getting better. Unfortunately, we could only play 4 songs as it was a bands contest. Fortunately, over the years and show after show, I learned how to manage my feelings better, on stage I mean, Concerning my everyday life, I’m still learning… The stage for me it’s always a mix of emotions all rolled up into one. |
| What artists did you grow up listening to and which of them can you say inspired you most to create your own character as a musician? | |
| I grew up listening to many different bands: from Guns N’ Roses to Obituary, from Cinderella to Iron Maiden, Rage Against the Machine, Slayer, Pantera and many more. It looks like I was a bit confused but, also now, I can’t feel satisfied if I don’t jump from one genre to another. There are too many interesting things around. |
| We are, as you might know, a feminist webzine. Many people claim women’s rights have been achieved, at least in Europe. Although this might be true politically, some argue that in practice women still face challenges such as sexism at work and in the way some men still view women. Have you ever been treated in a sexist way? And how would you face this kind of discrimination? | |
| This is a really really complex lines of reasoning. We could talk about that for hours and it wouldn’t be enough. For sure I have been treated in a sexist way on different situations, but I’ve always been hard and assertive as well as aggressive sometimes. I always worked and played in environments where the 90% of performers and workers were men and I never had serious problems with anyone. You have to be serious and professional in what you do, always, this way you will be respected from the most of the people (men and women). Anyway, this is a message for those who don’t respect women and all the other living things: “I have a truck and lots of dreams, if you disrespect me, I will drive you right over so…. get out of my way” |
| Thank you for the interview Charlotte! It has been a pleasure. | |
| It’s been a pleasure to me too. I really liked your questions, you are so far for being boring! Keep it up and…Rock N Roll!!! |
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