Terrible band name.
Terrible album title.
Neither reflect the band's impressively melodic hard rock style.
You'll have seen the comparisons to
White Lion. Accurate. Big, soaring guitars, an earthy, nasally vocalist and some cracking tunes.
The band have been around for quite some time, without ever making the breakthrough. On the evidence of '
R U Naughty Enough', only the band's judgement on band names and album titles is in question, so why they haven't broken through before now is a real puzzle.
Unquestionably, this music - often outstanding, always interesting - deserves its day in the sun.
The band's ammunition is a luscious, freshly minted batch of melodies, wrapped up in thumping rhythms and amped up, cranked up electric guitars.
Melodically, they borrow heavily from the EZN, Big Bang Babies' book of tunes'n'hooks, suffusing their pounding hard rock with an ebullient energy and a tacky splendour.
Great production too, time after time - as on
'I Will' and '
Stay' - the slick, streamlined sonics deliver a powerful, woofer challenging sound that circles overhead before closing in and wiping out its target, leaving a ringing, melodicentric (and extremely pleasant) aftertaste.
At other times, the pace slows for dramatic scene setting, allowing adventurous, tuneful songs like
'Last Man Standing' and '
Bitter Tears' ample room to flex their sumptuous melodies and ambitious arrangements.
On the downside, there's a lack of cohesion to the album, as if the tracks were written and recorded at vastly different times. A sense of sameness creeps in toward the back end of the album. Maybe it should have been trimmed from 13 to 11 tracks.
That said, the first two thirds of the album are an absolute joy, full of innovative, imaginative arrangements, sharp hooks and memorable melodies.
Satisfaction guaranteed.
Written by
Brian Saturday, October 18, 2008
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