Labels: self released
Review by: Mike Whelan
A couple of yeas ago I completed the Great North Run. Although in hindsight I’ve probably never been healthier, my mind does tend to block out the three-months of eating nothing but salad and the accompanying injuries which were associated with the training.
But what does this have to do with None of the Above? It’s quite simple really, after the CD stopped spinning for the first time I thought it had been pretty enjoyable, but subsequent listens turned out to be a bit of a marathon.
The sound is normally something I would enjoy, upbeat fast-paced rock, heavy guitars with a pop-emo influence; and for the length of the first track “The Three R’s’ I did think things were going well. It had everything I usually like, a catchy chorus, loud guitars, good vocals, so far so good. Track one finishes and track two, “Fuzzy Logic,’ begins, hang on a minute, it sounds exactly the same. I even stop to check I haven’t hit the repeat button by mistake (in three years of owning the stereo I don’t think I’ve ever made this mistake). I listen to the remainder of the song but it does sound pretty much alike to the first track.
Track two finishes and the final song, “Not The One,’ begins. It sounds just the same as the first two. The opening twenty seconds of each track could be swapped around without creating any real problem. The same upbeat, catchy chorus is present in each track, so are the exact same vocals and the fast-tempo drums.
I don’t want to write off “Them vs. Them’ completely, as “The Three R’s’ is a pretty good song. It’s just that with only three tracks on offer, and three that sound so similar, the lack of diversity is exposed. The release does show a certain promise, but None of the Above will need to produce songs that don’t sound so alike in the future.