Review by Ian Savage
Release date: 28 July 2014
Midlands Rocks’ collective ear was first bent in SKAM‘s direction by a storming set at the Bulldog Bash a couple of years ago. Since then they’ve been tirelessly assaulting the walls of the big-time, an unrelenting gigging schedule allying to their infectious showmanship to give them a deserved position amongst the UK’s foremost underground rock bands.
Peacemaker is the band’s second album in their five-year servitude, and from a laid-back finger-picked intro it lays into one of the crunchiest opening tracks of the year in the form of ‘Make You Pay’, double-time snare drum driving along a bare-bones rhythm track supporting frontman Steve’s wide-ranging vocals. It appears that (double-tracked guitar solos aside) SKAM have kept largely to their power-trio ideal for Peacemaker, which translates the intricate instrumental interplay of their live shows into a punchy, visceral full-lengther.
In terms of musical content, it’s largely a winner – the predominant driving riff-based tracks on offer (‘Holy City’, ‘Fortune Favours The Brave’, ) sit comfortably amidst lower-tempo stompers and more expansive tunes like ‘The Wire’ and ‘Precious Stone’ to give a nicely nuanced snapshot of the Leicester three-piece’s place in 2014.
The album isn’t entirely without fault: as it closes in on the finish line ‘In The Zone”s faintly tired three-chord structure and the drawn-out riffery of closer ‘More Or Less’ straddle the relatively cliched ‘Let’s Get Rocked’ (almost certainly stifled on record by a click track, and despite that almost certain to be a total crowd-pleaser live), closing with more of a whimper than yell.
For a sophomore studio opus from a proven live outfit, though, Peacemaker is a definite step up the rock ‘n’ roll ladder. As they gain the audience and start playing the venues to better suit their increasingly outward-looking style, SKAM can surely only build from here – it’s a long way to the top, but these boys are making real good headway.
8 out of 10
Track listing:
- Langundo
- Make You Pay
- Rivers
- Holy City
- Peacemaker
- The Wire
- Fortune Favours The Brave
- The Prince
- Precious Stone
- In The Zone
- Let’s Get Rocked
- More Or Less
