Labels: Boss Tuneage
Review by: Ted Reynolds
These are some folk from Norway, who I believe are hoary old stalwarts of the punk scene. Members of Angor
Watt, Isrealvis, and Life But How To Live It (who I believe are some legendary Norwegian post hardcore, that
I’m not that familiar with, but then the holes in my music knowledge are vast – mind you I just had a listen,
and they are pretty decent!).
The record starts with some great speedy pop punk, but then kind of devolves (or evolves depending on your point of view) into a more grooving kind of post hardcore. I love grooving post hardcore me, but this steps a bit too much into rock here for me to really enjoy it. That’s not to do the record down at all, as a whole it’s high quality from start to finish. Elements remind me of some of the newer Refused songs, slightly less jazzy rhythms, oh and not total shit of course like those new Refused songs. There are the odd songs like Indigo and
Pagan Lullabye that hark back to the better side of brit pop – not the cheery cockerney type, more the good bands
like Kenickie or Lush.
I want to be into it more than I am, I want the riffs to be more exciting and weird, and there to be more exciting numbers, I can hear a more exciting band trying to get out, but getting dragged back to hard rock.There are a few stand out numbers though – ‘Our Loss, ‘Glasshouse’ and ‘Paleface’ two fast pop punkish, the other indie post hardcore, and then ‘Nocturnally Yours’ is also really good – my favourite of the record. I
just can’t get excited about the rest of it, but the last 3 songs are all good enough to make me
think maybe I need to go back and listen again. That’s a good way to finish a record.