Cool to be shit!
Okay, so this is a strange one. Here is an album review of a band that split up five months ago. This is the first release on new record label, Welikedanger, and label owner, Wayne Kempson, has decided that his former band, Centrifuge, whom he played bass for, will be the first release. An interesting move. Now Centrifuge were around for 5 years, however they are not a band that I have ever heard of, but here we have 9 songs spanning through the bands history, albeit brief.
First song, 'Wake Up Call' starts with a high-pitched alarm sound on the guitar that is a cross between a digital alarm clock and the Halloween theme tune, before kicking into what sounds like a build up to a hardcore song, but this never materialises and so we get a mid-range indie song. 'Shotgun Funeral' is a gentle plod of a song, with the quick riffs, but doesn't leave much impression. One of the highlights is, 'Cool To Be Shit' which has a slightly amateur punk feel to it, complete with sneering lyrics in the verse. However the chorus, is a bit of a disappointment as it is just a quick rant/scream of nothingness.
'Carnival Carnivore' is a song that could quite possibly grow on you with a cross between The Crimea and The Stereophonics, it is a slow and thoughtful song that has some big chunky riffs halfway through. 'Lizard In The Wires' is a slice of the pretentious drivel that Radiohead have been churning out over the years, whilst the repetition of the song title, in 'Their Voices Will Not Be Heard' is interesting, seeing as vocalist Phil Wagg, has been known to state that he hates bands that sing about cigarettes, and that swearing is a sign of a lazy mind, however repeating the album title over and over again, is what exactly, Mr Wagg? Annoying, I'd wager.
The sound on, 'Final Solution' is quite awful which is a shame as the song isn't a bad one. It's mainly when the guitars are flushing around in a fuzz box frenzy that musically the song is very weak, as the verses which have a simple back beat and chugging guitars sounds good. This is probably one of the best examples of, Centrifuge, showing that here are some great ideas but they are not executed to the bands best potential, and consequentially could be a reason for the band's demise. The last song is called, 'A New Direction' which is quite apt, as if the band had stayed together, then this would be the best advice that I could give them.
It's been said before that everything happens for a reason, therefore perhaps the end of Centrifuge, will see more success with this record label for Wayne. I hope so.