Labels: Cheap Art – Ed Walters Records
Review by: Graeme Cunningham
The first bite is with the eye. Or so I’ve heard, possibly from TV chefs, possibly from someone of more substance. This being the case, my first impression of The Sound of Failure’s CD “The Party is over” didn’t exactly have my mouth watering in anticipation. The far too crisp white typography and the clear photography bring to mind immediate connotations of Drive Thru, Victory, New Found Glory and other such four letter words.
Fortunately for the Sound of Failure, the artwork is either a cunning ruse or a serious aesthetic miscalculation. The recording offers up fourteen tracks of frantic action in about 20 minutes. My ears were prepared for the worst. So the energetic and enthusiastic sounds that cascaded past my audio receivers were more than welcome. Unfortunately my enthusiasm has waned further with each successive rotation.
There isn’t anything particularly wrong with the Sound of Failure. Its just doesn’t really move me one way or the other. Its well played, modern sounding hardcore. There’s plenty of quick fire tempo changes, some harmonics, a few pick scrapes. While its reminiscent of a lot of things, it doesn’t sound too much like anyone in particular. There’s some good lyrics (particularly on opener, Zombie Death March “leave a note: all dead down here, please don’t send help”). But after four or five listens none of the tracks has really lodged in my head.
I can imagine that some people will love this record. I’m not one of them.