Labels: Magic Bullet
Review by: Andy Malcolm
I wanted to like this record. The first track is the band explaining what they think has gone wrong with hardcore and emo, and how the scene is just a microcosm of what goes on in the mainstream, i.e. hype, marketing, ex-members, exclusive distribution… They also say that emo must no longer be “niche marketed pop music”, which straight away grabbed my attention. You can argue if that is irrelevant or not, but it’d be nice to think there was something more to emo than just a few guys (rarely girls) playing their guitars in a way that is appealing to a few people, myself included, who don’t feel any attachment to mainstream indie rock. Oh, and what about bands like the Get Up Kids that have somehow found themselves the ‘underground’ equivalent of boy bands… what the fuck is going on there? Anyway, after about a year of being into the music I was to find out that only a couple of these bands actually had honed this style so that is was vaguely interesting or different to all the others. Ah, sorry. Rant over. I make sure that I take any opportunity to whine that I get. Heh.
Unfortunately, Waifle’s music for me doesn’t grab me as much as I was expecting. It’s pretty standard screechy vocals over a mix of metal, hardcore, and emo breakdowns, with lyrics about various things that are important to the band. All’s fair there, they are doing what they want to, they have worthwhile opinions, but it’s not my fault that the music is pretty bland. They do have a couple of tracks that did get my attention – they do the quiet / loud thing really well on “The Boy With The Golden Sombrero”, but that aside…
If you wanna hear more stuff a long the lines of Boy Sets Fire, then go ahead, make your choice here and ensure that you buy this record. You’ll enjoy Waifle (pronounced: Wayfell) very much. Personally, I can’t see myself returning to it that often. Maybe I can sell it to Ian, he says he loves this sort of thing. Ian?