Labels: Snuffy Smile
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Blew’s single on Mother Stoat rocked. So I had to have an album. Since then I have read that they split up, but I don’t know if this is ‘fact’. If it is, you should be very upset, as this album is quite simply: fuckin’ amazing. And it’ll be a shame if they never do any more stuff.
“You’re Not The Only One” runs across a whole bunch of punk styles. There’s snotty vocaled punk rock, emotional punk, pop punk, and also some hardcore. And it all rules cos it has great tunes.
Insanely catchy opening track “Atmosphere” never fails to get my foot tapping, it crosses some Jawbreaker melodic hardcore with some awesome pop. Bits of the song remind me of the ‘breaker song “Want” off Unfun. Other guitar bits sound like Foil. The whole thing makes me think ‘this rules!’. And this is just the start of 11 tracks of quality and varied styles.
“Friday” has a juicy pop punk chorus, with liberal use of chanty backing vocals that bludgeon into your head to make you sing a long. “Am I Alien” has an intro that could almost have been ported directly from a Foil tune, and a shouty, snotty chorus. “Don’t Break Me” is a slower, slightly emo effort, a bit Broccoli-ish. Final track on the album, “Songs”, and they crash out in a speedy melodic hardcore assault. The yelling vocalist, Takuro Kawase, makes it sound a bit Minor Threaty. Groovy.
Best song on here is “Promises”, a spiky dose of poppy hardcore that at times is a bit CIV-ish, but check out that sing-a-long poppy chorus that has been glued into my head all day, particularly when I was supposed to be listening to the lecturer. “I GOTTA KNOW WHY! You lied to me. I GOTTA KNOW WHY! Don’t you tell me a reason”. It oozes enthusiasm and loudness, you gotta love it.
Other than Hi-Standard, this is the only Japanese band I’ve heard. Based on reviews I’ve read, and how good Blew are, I must now check out the phreakily named Screaming Fat Rat, and the Lovemen. As if they are anywhere near as good as Blew, then they have to be worth hearing.
Blew rule, and if you don’t already know this, it’s about time you found out. Go buy this 3 weeks ago.