Out Now
Big Egg Records
I was real fucking excited to get started on this review. That was before I realised that I completely fucked up and that I wasn’t reviewing a local punk rock act with an Elvis impersonator frontman. Instead, I was about to review a noise punk band from South Wales, that just happened to borrow their album title from said local punk rock Elvis act Disgraceland.
To say that I am now very underwhelmed would be an understatement. I don’t even know what Noise Punk is, and it sure as hell does not sound like fun. I’ve only got 10 tracks to get through though, and by the look of it they all tap out at around the 2 min mark as per every good punk album ever. Not that I’m saying it’s a good punk album, I wouldn’t know yet because I haven’t even bothered to listen.
So, the album kicks off with a song called Music Is Dead, and it actually almost sounds like music is dead. I get what they mean by noise punk now, it’s punk, but noisier, but not, and it just kind of sounds real messy. Let’s be honest, generally any music genre with “noise” in the name generally does just sound like untamed messy noise. This however does have some punk rock rhythm to it.
Next up is Hero Of The Work, and it is less noisy and a little more punk. The album so far seems very live. I’m sure it’s not a live recording, but it has definitely been produced to sound that way. Even down to the slightly out-of-tune guitars. It kind of even sounds like an old Tascam 4 track recording from a local storage shed jam room. Cool song for noisy punk.
Stopped by the cops cause you’ve gotten abducted is the catchy chorus line to Abducted. It’s a catchy as fuck track that seems way too familiar. I’m not sure if it’s the riff or the general vibe of the song, but I swear I’ve heard something about it before on some other punk song or 100 of them.
I don’t quite want to rip out my eyes like The Woodsman do, but they assure me that they are not going to do that during Buzz. This track has more of a grunge vibe to it, similar to the Bleach album by Nirvana, and it strangely enough eventually got a bit of a Love Buzz vibe to it. Intentional maybe?
Even though that last track was 3 minutes, I’m struggling to keep up while typing my thoughts. And as this track Lie Now Pay Later reaches 30 seconds from its conclusion, I have no idea what has just happened. It sounded punky though, and it only lasted 2 minutes, so I guess that’s a thing.
Voice of the Voiceless manages to tack on an extra 30 seconds and make it all the way to 2 minutes 28 seconds. It’s a fun mix of 3 chords and standard punk beats. The bass even kinda pokes its nose out here and there.
As I read the next track title, I’m hoping that Lust for Likes is not a blatant rip-off of Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life like Jet’s Are You Gonna Be My Girl. Luckily, apart from the subtle borrowing and clever manipulation of a song title, it’s not. It’s quite a thrashing little number, actually.
Lost It has lots of drums at the start of it as the guitars ring out a few power chords. As it blasts in it reminds me a little of Offspring’s Mota from Ixnay on the Hombre. Again, I’m sure a little of that is intentional, and I don’t hate them for it. Wow, this is a long track.
Three minutes and thirty fucking six seconds. Is that a record for a punk song? If this next one sounds anything like Soundgarden, I think I’ll have discovered part of this band’s songwriting formula. It’s sounding nothing fucking like them, so I’ll just shut the fuck up now. It starts with some heavy drums with some quick double kicks and soon becomes a thrashing punk number complete with some Woah Oh Oh’s. It called Black Hole, and on that note the band is about to tell us to stick it where sun don’t shine with the final track of the album.
What a funny name for a track, Guns Akimbo. As it turns out it’s actually about guns, and about standing with them in Akimbo. It’s another catchy little track, but again sounds way too familiar. Maybe that’s because I generally think all punk sounds the same, even the good stuff.
Punk fans will love this, as may some grunge fans. Hell, I might even give it a listen again one day.
*All reviews in HEAVY are just one person’s opinion of the album. We encourage honesty in reviews but just because our reviewer may or may not like/appreciate an album, that doesn’t mean their opinion is right! We encourage you to have a listen for yourself and make up your own minds!*
