Sounds better the louder you play it…
Out on 23 September 2016 and reviewed by Allan Jones
There’s something about the fuzzed-up sound of a downtuned guitar that automatically makes it sound cool. It’s even cooler these days to be a two-piece, and Thom Edwards (guitar and vocal) and Ash Weaver (drums) tick the boxes for both of those things. Hailing from Wolverhampton, they’re actually the remnants of a three piece band, with a former member dropping out after a life-threatening accident to leave them as a bass-less two-piece outfit.
It’s definitely an album that sounds better the louder you play it. Opener ‘Sing This’ screams at you from the get-go with the lightly distorted vocal over a fuzzy lead riff that drags you along into a sort of lo-fi stoner grunge state of Nirvana, for example. There are big hints of the early nineties indie scene liberally scattered throughout, adding up to a big sing-along kind of number.
As the album progresses, they retain the heaviness and the shoutiness which ends up with the album feeling like a sort of grunge-punk with hints of early Nirvana and Jesus Lizard and their ilk thrown in. While it’s not exactly a subtle, groove-laden record, the very raw attack of it really builds and pummels you all the way. This is at least in part due to the massive, thundering drumming – it never lets up and really drives the album along.
If you’re a fan of relentless noise and unsubtle, punky, grungy rock, this will be ideal for you. For me, it lacks a little of the groove and dynamic subtlety of other two-piece bands – and of their Heavy Money EP, if that matters to you – but what it lacks on that score it makes up for in sheer gut-punching aggression. As such, I’m on the fence – other than the opener, none of the other tracks really stand out for me, but equally there’s nothing really off-putting, either. It’s a good, solid album, but unfortunately for them I’ve heard better this year, and it suffers in comparison.
7 out of 10
Track list:
- Sing This
- Ghost
- Again Again
- Fake Prisons
- I’ll Bury You
- Failure
- It Bites
- Oh No
- Six Wires
- Dead To Me
- Violence
- Let’s Speak
- Easily Misbled
