Disappointing
There isn’t very many strong ladies left in rock, is there? Debbie Harry will shortly be drawing her pension and getting a senior’s bus pass, Shirley Manson seems to have fallen off the end of the earth and Courtney Love, well, it’s probably best not to comment, after the documentary which followed her last year. With punk music, the ladies of recent years don’t fare much better. In the 1970’s, this was a different matter: there was a whole plethora of female fronted bands who kept up with the boys in every respect. Where have all the Joan Jett’s gone, eh?
Of late, we have only had the innocuous sound of Sadie Thom with her “I wish I was a Punk Rocker with flowers in my hair” nonsense giving a nod to P-Rock and a few other gone and quickly forgotten bands on both sides of the Atlantic. With the very heart and soul of the movement seemingly belonging to them hairy fellows, what about the ladies? When will they change things again? Well, if you were hoping for Holland’s Bambix to right these terrible wrongs, then you are going to be horribly disappointed.
Bleeding in a Box is the band’s fifth album, and where it is impossible to comment on what proceeded this release, it is fair to say that this particular release may not do any wowing any time soon.
With each song on the album is extremely predictable in terms of structure and sound, despite an impassioned, lively delivery, this falls flat on its face, a maybe into something muddy.
Although the lyrics do have a bit of clout and they do employ a clever turn of phrase every now and again to make you momentarily sit up and take notice; the sheer unrelenting sameness of the music makes you just fall back into a semi-sleep as such. The very fact that the album was playing seemed inconsequential and didn’t demand that you down tools and listen intently as if every word mattered: that is was great punk is supposed to do.
Despite being spirited and frenetic in style, this particular release falls down when it comes to diversity. It has the heart, but lacks the goods in order to make it a worthy release. There is possibly a great band hiding under this album; it’s just a shame that some of their accomplishments don’t shine as they are supposed to.