Labels: Mother Stoat
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This split 7″ sees the first in a new singles club venture from the impressive Mother Stoat label. 6 singles for a paltry 10 of your English pounds, a new one every 2 months. Bargain or what?! Sure, you don’t know what you’re gonna get, but this label already has a pedigree that makes it worth the risk.
Astream come from Sweden and they are doing the melodic hardcore / pop punk thing. If you own a Fat Wreck sampler CD, then pick a track at random, Astream sound a bit like the band you just chose. “On Behalf Of The Human Race” certainly doesn’t suck too bad. It’s fast and tuneful, has decent, worthwhile lyrics and this bit where they slow down and play a metal bit, but turns out rather uninspired. Great if you like this sort of thing, pointless if you’re bored of it. And it ends oddly – doesn’t sound like it’s finished, but just stops.
Annalise, on the other hand, rock! Sounds a bit different to their two EPs on Pigdog, less of the melodic hardcore – more of the melodic punk rock. Yup, this is definitely more straight up punkier than their previous stuff, but is down right catchy and is the sort of tune that makes you want to jump around. The dual lead vocals are really urgent and effective. Reminds me a bit of the Caustic Soda single from Crackle. Only knock against it is that this song (“Johnny’s Not Mad”) is going to also be on the next CD the band put out.
Cool release, get it just to hear Annalise. And bonus points for the cover of the record – a picture of Geoff Capes hauling a truck. That strongest man in the world competition just isn’t what it used to be…