SixNationState - Video Album
Before reading this it should be noted that this review is based on the album of videos and not as purely music only, which can be found here SixNationState Review
Released by Jepster Records, Video Album is exactly what it says, not a new album from the London and Southampton based quintet but merely a compilation of videos on a CD and not DVD of their recently released album of the same title. For a band that has not released a great number of tracks and not been around for more than a few years this is not going to be easy to do.
To be fair to SixNationState there are twelve videos on the compilation and is interesting seeing the different quality from the earlier videos to the most recent but too often I found my finger wanting to push the next track button. Don’t get me wrong though, the music was enjoyable, if not great but just got a little bit tedious sitting there watching the songs rather than just listening to them.
The first two videos, Can’t Let Go and Keep Dancing, are made with handheld cameras and we get to see the band playing live with a few extra bits on Keep Dancing. Both are good toe tapping songs even if I am not sure if I like the lead singers vocals.
Caught in the Sun is then a let down, have a feeling this is only an album filler at best and the video, despite doing something different, never really gets going. My finger is starting to twitch. Thankfully the next video, Taking Me Over, is highly enjoyable if you don’t mind a bit of mindless zombie violence and must have been great fun to make. Nice fast paced song too.
I Hate the Summer and So Long are both again weaker songs but they at least try to do something different in the videos. Everybody Wants to be my Friend sees the hand held camera back out again this time to follow the band on the road up and down the country.
The first real bad video is Where are you Now? Just a bland video, sadly the song does not help either. Up and Down is not much better either but at least it is back to original ideas for the video. Out of the last three videos, Don’t Need You Anymore, Blow Your Mind and We Could Be Happy, Blow Your Mind is the only one that was worth listening to.
This is a must for any fan of SixNationState, I know there are a few bands out there that I would love to see do something similar to this album. I doubt it will do anything to encourage any new fans to their cause though.