ALLISTER B4 THE BLACKOUT
So, here we are, another album from the Chicago pop punksters.
Pop punk. It's a phrase I tend to dislike, I've never yet come across a band of that ilk, that I've really found interesting. This album didn't really help to change my opinion.
I put it on and was surprisingly impressed with the sound of the opening track WAITING. Good honest rock, a nice piece to open the album.
Unfortunately, the rest of the album doesn't live up to the promises of that first track. Now I can't say the album lacks energy or hooks, it just descends into sounding like Busted's slightly older brothers. A bit harder, yes, it's catchy, well a bit. The bass I like, nice and gutsy. A great bit of guitarwork too. In isolation the instrumentation is great. Put them all together and you'll find the parts are greater that the sum. All those ingredients should make for a fine bunch of tunes, but no. Just a lot of same old same old.
It follows the familiar pattern of young man's angst and frustration with relationships, parents and the world in general. You've heard it all before. You'd be hard pushed to tell the difference between these boys and any number of similar bands. The deep and meaningful titles bely the inanity beneath.
There are occasional standouts that caught my attention. 2AM breaks up the pace of the onslaught nicely. It's good to know they can slow down a bit and vary their style. The guitar riff on A STUDY IN ECONOMICS is absolutely fab, if vaguely familiar. EASY ANSWERS is vaguely Alice Cooperish in places, but I'm sure they nicked the riff from Jefferson Airplane.
I read somewhere that the band use music to escape their problems, why foist them on us? Don't we all have enough problems of our own?
There's nothing exactly wonderful or new about the album. One to listen to in the background whilst having a chat and a few beers with yer mates, or washing up. Certainly not in any way taxing or challenging. Quite frankly, I got a bit bored with the whole thing so I fired up my rapidly numbing brain and started playing computer games whilst listening, just so's I wouldn't waste that precious time. I beat my best score on the old Atari classic 'Crystal Castles' (ha! have that you slimy ..........)