Counterfeit
Together We Are Stronger

In the music scene, there's a flood of talented bands, unknown or semi-unknown, that despite having tools unavailable to their predecessors or mentors, struggle to reach where they deserve.

This category includes Counterfeit, a "former" London-based band led by Jamie Campbell Bower, accompanied by guitarists Samuel Bower (his younger brother) and Tristan Marmont, bassist Roland Johnson, and drummer James Craig.

Jamie Bower is best known for his masterful performance in Stranger Things (Netflix's flagship series) as the villain Vecna, alias Henry Creel, alias Number One. Looking back, good Jamie has also made himself known and recognized for equally excellent acting performances in big-screen successes such as Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd, the Twilight saga, and not least the Harry Potter series and its prequel, Fantastic Beasts by David Yates. Let it be clear: I too am among the many fans of Bower the actor, and I only recently discovered his past as a rock star. Unfortunately, already forgotten by him, alas...

But let's proceed in an orderly manner. Counterfeit, who started making music in the now distant 2015, effectively concluded their journey in 2020, can boast a small catalog, including three EPs and one studio album, "Together We Are Stronger," dating 2017. On YouTube, you can find brief live excerpts, even acoustic, interviews, and a couple of video calls between the Bower brothers extracted from Instagram and recorded during the pandemic. Then a single, highly appreciable, one-hour concert held in 2017 at the Woodstock Festival Poland (now Pol'and'Rock Festival). I watched this live performance just hours after discovering Jamie Bower the musician, while still having in mind the masterful portrayal of the wicked Vecna, and I was astounded. The band plays with incredible energy, heads banging, sweat, the Bower brothers' picks sparking (the frontman is also the lead guitarist). Jamie devours the stage, behind the fringe of blond hair that hides his face and occasionally reveals his icy eyes. Sixty frenzied minutes pass between headbanging and amazement, with toes hammering the floor like a mad metronome. Jamie shows all his passion and devotion to the audience, even deciding to play amid the chaos, dragging the microphone cable to its limit and forcing the security to work overtime. Personally, I've seen many concerts, but this last part is something absolutely wild, as hasn't been seen in a long time. This aside is not meant to distort the review but rather serves as an introduction to what I'm about to say. Together We Are Stronger is a powerful album with strong punk influences, mature in sound and simultaneously hungry for the future. "As Yet Untitled," the first single released (accompanied by its video available online), is direct proof of this. Jamie Bower's voice scratches and stretches the veins in his neck, Samuel's riffs are potent and swift, seemingly jostling with the snare drum, creating a unique effect: "Raise your fist and look at the dying sun. Cos we, we stand, we stand up for everyone. Without you the show will not carry on. But try as I may I think they like the taste of my blood."

Another powerhouse is the opening "Washed Out," which immediately winks at the punk rock sounds that will accompany the entire tracklist. Bower's timbre at times resembles that of Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), despite a different approach to vocals.

The same sense of exuberance is felt in the next track, "For The Thrill of it," where the usual intoxicating riff plot continues, and the singing claims an unbridled love for a beautiful and sought-after woman. "Close to Your Chest" pauses and shelves the discussion only for a moment, delivering another burst of energy, then passing the baton to more reflective and melodic pieces. "Lost Everything" is the pioneer of this, with a visionary and choral chorus that doesn't lose pace thanks to Samuel's scream interludes (scream and growl aren't Jamie's forte). "You Can’t Rely" is drumming, with the snare and ride accompanying a stuttering vocal. Very complex melodically due to the presence of strings in the background, it’s the piece that resonated the least with me, being sometimes sing-song.

"Romeo" meets the same fate, being somewhat monotonous and pounding in the long run, despite pleasant lyrics. "Addiction" brings back the shock, and the once-again spicy chorus recalls the now-extinct nu-metal sounds of the early century, with much strength in the percussion seemingly battling with the voice. "Enough" increases the voltage with a less raw and more convincing scream, leading us toward the end. The needle finishes its work with "Letters to the Lost," an acoustic ballad sung at the top of Bower’s lungs, taking us straight back to that nineties grunge I feel obliged to evoke. Jamie talks to death, bitterly thinking about what could have been had the sky not intervened prematurely. The melancholic lyrics clearly reference depression leading to suicide. The frontman himself, during the aforementioned concert in September 2017 in Poland, acknowledges the issue with a heartfelt salute to Chester Bennington, tragically deceased two months earlier.

Thinking about the short trajectory of Counterfeit and the regret that accompanies us after listening to this album, it almost seems like "Letters to the Lost" was inserted specifically as a concluding piece. Almost as if unconsciously regretting having renounced that strong desire for the future, screamed in their first single and much of their work.

I believe this is a story worth telling. The story of a beautiful albeit brief musical trajectory, which an ugly and ruthless pandemic helped interrupt.

But life goes on, even though Jamie Campbell Bower, amid commitments as a model and talented actor, has now embarked on a solo journey, with completely different tones and far removed from rock.

Together We Are Stronger, for me, earns a solid eight.

I recommend you to listen to it and especially to see it with your own eyes.