Labels: In At the Deep End
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Dan Dare. What a dude. The Mekon and all that. I think there was already a band called the Mekons or something, maybe Dan Dare are their arch enemy. I had a Dan Dare computer game for my ZX Spectrum, it had nice big chunky and colourful graphics. Though not quite Don Priestly (Popeye, Trapdoor, Flunky etc…) standard. I have no idea if I completed it.
This album is 35 minutes long and all the songs sound like the first one pretty much, I would be able to write this review after hearing just 2 songs. There is nothing wrong with that at all, and as these guys have been a band for 14 years (fucking hell! I was still in middle school then) they obviously can play very tight. They have two vocalists, one does the mostly angry singing style and one joins in to beef it up. It’s all highly energetic and old style hardcore. It’s not quite as good as the trendier bands like DS13 or ETA or whatever but they are in that ballpark and they certainly do a good job. I would enjoy them for 20 or so minutes in a live setting. I think that’s where this record falls down too, it is just 10 minutes too long. 25 minutes of similar sounding, well played and rocking hardcore is fine. 35 minutes is just about stretching the limits for me – although it does appear that the last 4 songs are from a demo (where they sound like Imbalance) so if you ignore those you have the perfect length! You can finger point and jump around in your bedroom to it, I expect if there were lyrics that might have added to it too but I got a CDR with no insert so I can’t tell you what they are singing about. It could be 18 songs about stabbing the Mekon in the back or something. Whatever, I have just decided that “Descendable Disease” is an awesome song, wow.
If you like fast 80’s hardcore you will probably lap this up. It fits in with European bands like DS13 and ETA, and they tear and put 100% into all the songs. It’s just that touch too long for this style of music. Shit. I’ve realised I sound down on on this record but I shouldn’t be as I only have that singular complaint – musically it’s actually rather good and I like the style a lot. Check it out.