Labels: In At the Deep End
Review by: Mike Whelan
Many bands have been guilty in the past of riding the waves of other success in order to win fame, money, the adulation of
their peers and the undying love of teenage girls.
Steel Rules Die probably want success, maybe even fame, but the rest can wait until they’ve finished grasping the
coattails of bands like Hot Water Music. While “Nostalgia for Beginners’ isn’t the most original piece of work to be
produced in the last few year’s, there’s nothing wrong with trying to sound like other bands as long as you do it right.
The band stick to their guns through thick and thin throughout this mini-album, and these eight tracks are all pretty
solid, littered as they are with the odd great song (“Signs of Cloudy Days,’ “Sticks and Stones Will Break My Heart’) but
the odd filler (“Still Waiting For the End’).
“Nostalgia for Beginners’ is a good enough release, even if it does nothing to push the hardcore envelope any further.
The midlanders can pen a good tune but whether this type of thing will stand out in the already saturated world of
hardcore is another thing. The added incentive of the odd bit of politicised lyricing is marginally eyebrow raising, but
Steel Rules Die never get out of the quagmire of clichéd social commentary “” sure, there’s a message, but will anybody in
a dingy nightclub in Leeds or Leicester really care?