Labels: Adagio830 – Youth Attack
Review by: Alex Deller
First time I’ve checked out Failures, this. For whatever reason I thought they’d be a lot different. Blackened, maybe. Or mysterious. Or mysteriously blackened. And with a wryly arched eyebrow, knowingly cocked at what a complete dick I am. I think the latter assumption may still be true, but at this point in my life it’s something I’ve pretty much come to accept. Musically, though, they’re ragged, discordant hardcore played with a relatively straight bat. The guitars have a bright, sharp edge to them that cuts clean through whatever’s fugging your brain (boredom; booze; medication; lack of sleep; too much sleep…) like a fresh Stanley blade while Mark McCoy’s hectoring vocals provide a further jolt that make you feel like you’ve been shouted at for days on end rather than a mere 14 minutes. If there’s one thing letting the side down it’s the rather lackadaisical lyrics. They’re all kinda “blah” and “eh” and “meh” to the point where I’m surprised there aren’t any “whatevs” thrown in to round things off. There’s an air of bitter ennui about them, but for someone who pretty much runs on the stuff it doesn’t quite hit home like I think it should. Maybe that’s the point and it’s all a trick or a big funny art experiment? Who can tell these days, and it’s not like you can understand him half the time anyway. Questions as to motives and rationale aside I’d say that I like it well enough. Which comes as a pleasant surprise and one that I would have been among the very last to suspect. Good one, lads. Good one.