Labels: TNS Records
Review by: Captain Fidanza
Odd the things that aspiration can do to a band. Claiming to be inspired in equal measure by metal and traditional Balkan music is a fairly good start, but when you sound like an ironic pastiche of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, you’ve delivered a rather unfortunate shot to your cowboy-booted foot.
It’s a shame really, because almost everything about this is good. The songs, each a well-crafted fusion of country blue-grass and punk are instantly likeable, but when proceedings are infused with an atmosphere of such overwhelming desire to be something else, it becomes difficult to truly warm to them.
If Bootscraper were to drop the Tom Waits posturing and think a little more about the things that matter to the people they are and the places they’re from, they would be something to behold. As it is, they’re something to talk about when your friend has just got back from SXSW and is rattling on about a band you’ve never heard of in order to make you feel out of the loop.