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Reviews

NIRATIAS: Did Chevelle put out one of the best albums of the year and no one noticed?

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Chevelle is a band of many styles, be it alternative rock and metal, post-hardcore, post-grunge, and even some nu-metal thrown in there too. The band’s closest comparison has been Tool, and they are clearly a pretty heavy inspiration on the band, yet their music takes those ideas and heavies them up a little. All sounds good so far, and like something I should damn well enjoy. However, I have to admit that given how much this band should appeal to me, I haven’t listened to a lot of them, merely not having the time to. This all changes today, though, so let’s get on with listening to their latest album, NIRATIAS. I’m rather excited!

Chevelle’s Official Facebook

‘Verruckt’ immediately starts on a great riff, backed up by an awesome drum roll, and the Tool influences are present immediately. Said riff keeps building until it evolves into a newer variation of it… and then does it again. It was at this point that I realised this was to be an instrumental track, a ballsy move to open an album on but one that more than pays off. Every riff here is insane, and I especially love both the guitar and bassy tones; the odd little bits of wah here and there sound incredible and the lead channel for the solos is great. It reminds me a lot of a combination between Mastadon and Metallica’s ‘Suicide and Redemption’. Opening on a showcase of the band’s instrumental talents was a great choice as this was 3:30 minutes of solid sludgy awesomeness. A great start.

In contrast, ‘So Long, Mother Earth’ opens straight into vocals. They’re pretty high and sound awesome over the quick guitar riff. The drums and bass soon come in over the back, twice as slow as the guitar which is a nice touch. It soon heads into what I think is the pre and then the chorus and the guitar occasionally follows the vocal line, again sounding great. The chorus itself has a great high vocal line that is still pretty catchy, even if it is lost in the mix ever so slightly. The band very much reminds me of what I wish Deftones were; they have that same level of heaviness and instrumental prowess, but the songs are ACTUALLY GOOD AND CATCHY. Actually, the more I hear that chorus, the more I fall in love with it. It’s fantastic. It drops down a little into a bridge out of the second chorus, the guitars sounding very reminiscent of Adam Jones’ style. The vocals come back in to lead quickly back into the chorus again, this one ending with an incredible scream from Pete Loeffler before it enters into a short, heavy outro. I loved this, it was everything I could have wanted out of a band like this; huge sounds, heavy guitars, a catchy chorus, and some of the best mixing around. Playlisted.

‘Mars Simula’ opens on another huge, heavy guitar riff, bridging the gap between the intro and verse with some awesome strumming. The verse is again very ‘heavier Tool’, the guitars and bass lower and palm-muted behind the higher, quickly delivered vocals. However, this time it soon explodes into a HUGE, open chorus, the riff giving off more early 2000s industrial metal vibes to me, think Static X or Dope. Having very few vocals during the chorus was a great choice too, the insane riff does enough talking for itself. A short bridge builds up more, adding higher pitches and speeds before exploding, everything dropping out momentarily before the awesome riffs come back in. The drums and bass sound amazing here behind the lead guitar, and I really can’t emphasize enough just how good the mixing on this album is. We get a final, double chorus afterwards to finish stuff off, and this is yet another incredible song. Why haven’t I listened to these guys sooner?

After a short interlude/instrumental track, ‘Sleep The Deep’, we reach the first and lead single on the album, ‘Self Destructor’. It again opens on vocals, this time Pete going at it alone as he sings over an awesome little guitar riff. It soon drops nicely though, the drums coming in and filling out the track perfectly. I had to stop writing after the chorus during the first time I listened to this track, stopping to appreciate this for what it is; a fucking incredible song. It’s pretty basic compared to the previous few songs in terms of instrumentation, the first half of it feeling more like a radio-friendly single. However, the vocals definitely get a little harsher after the second chorus during ALL OF THE BRIDGES AND STUFF, and the fact that it is nearly six minutes in length kind of un-qualifies it for the radio these days. But holy cow, this song blew my mind. From the opening notes from Pete to the beautifully contrasting piano outro, this was incredible from start to finish. It is easily playlisted and is my new favourite song on the album by quite a stretch. This doesn’t even feel like a song made for musicians either, the type I usually gush over, this is just a damn good song. Check this out, please.

‘Piistol Star (Gravity Heals)’ feels a little slower and calmer than the previous songs so far, but that by no means insinuates it’s bad. The riff is slow and sludgy, and when it gets some wah added to it building into the chorus it sounds somehow even better. The chorus is another very catchy one and the verse is a similar sort of deal to the previous song’s ones. This is another incredible song, but after the sheer amount of gushing about the last few songs, I’m gonna say that this is ever so slightly worse (we’re talking like 1% worse). And if I’m honest, it’s mainly because I cannot possibly put 4 songs in a row on the playlist, it feels too much like favouritism. Still, this is damn good too.

‘VVurmhole’ is another very short interlude before we head into another single, ‘Peach’. They do that thing I love where they blend the end of the one song into the start of the next too, just an added little bonus that makes albums better than constant singles, and given the concepty/spacey themes they are going for, it works perfectly. ‘Peaches’ fades in with an awesome guitar riff, soon adding a drumroll over the top before the riff opens out, the drums being slow and pretty basic but they make it massively heavily. The drums drop back out for the verse, the guitar being palm-muted and the vocals little more than a distorted whisper, adding some great dynamics to the song. The drums slowly get built back in when the vocals get a little higher before a MASSIVE, distorted guitar riff explodes in to break up the sections. This one is reminding me more of A Perfect Circle than Tool, not that that is in any way an issue. The heavy, catchy chorus again is incredible, a simple vocal line over a fairly simple guitar riff but it all works so damn well together, being heavy and melodic and emotional all at once. The little guitar solo in the middle was also great, and lead to an awesome little verse with some incredible vocal harmonies. This is another song I could gush over forever it feels so I’m just going to cut this short and say to check this one out, too.

While ‘Test Test… Enough’ does have vocals in it, it very much still feels like an interlude, just being Pete singing over his guitar for a couple of minutes. It is beautiful though, and the little runs he goes on in the middle when he’s not singing sound insanely good. It leads perfectly into ‘Endlessly’ too, said song opening quietly with a low bass and some simple guitar notes and high vocals over the top. It stays slow too, the drums coming in light and quietly over the top. It’s such a perfect showcase of Pete’s vocals; they sound beautiful and haunting and so much like Maynard James Keenan’s in the best possible way. It keeps building up and leaving notes hanging, making me constantly be expecting a drop. However, the fact that it never actually comes makes the song even better; it is a true emotional ballad. Between the powerful lyrics, double-layered vocals for the final chorus, and even the subtle edition of the bells on each big drum hit, all of this was excellent. Wow.

We finally reach the final single, ‘Remember When’. It opens on a now typically great guitar riff before stripping back down a little into the verse and exploding into another huge, heavy chorus. It’s a little formulaic of this album at this point, but it is still done so well and at such a high quality, especially for just two band members, that it is hard to complain about the similar structure at all. I have also realised that at times they also sound like heavier Alien Ant Farm; another fantastic, criminally underrated band. This was damn good but arguably the weakest of the singles.

It again fades straight into the next song, ‘Ghost and Razor’, and has maybe the best riff on the whole album open it up. Pete’s distant vocals sound great over the start of it too, and when the drums come in too it somehow ends up sounding even better! It’s a heavy, slow, sludgy song in all of the best ways. I’m honestly running out of ways to praise and gush over this band, but every single riff in this song is incredible and fits perfectly with Pete’s vocals over the top of them. It’s another one that easily made the playlist. I do have to give special credit to the dropout to just bass in the middle, building up more and more until Pete does his best Maynard scream over the top of a sick solo guitar riff. It gave me such good Know Your Enemy vibes, I loved it.

Finally, we reach the final track ‘Lost in Digital Woods’. This one just decides to push the boat out and be completely different from everything else, and I for one am all for it. It’s essentially just Pete playing the piano while reading out some poetry all Lou Reed style, weird timings and all. There is some still silence afterwards before some strange guitar sounds take us out. This feels INCREDIBLY Tool, finishing on a weird note, and almost feels like some sort of Holy Gift-type troll. However, it is very fitting for this album and the lyrics were fantastic. A pretty good end!

Overall: This was f’ing incredible. Everything about it was awesome, from the song-writing to the lyrics to the instrumentation, heck, even the album order. All of it felt purposely done and all of it worked so well. I have no idea why I haven’t listened to these guys much before, or at least not outside of their first couple of albums, but damn, I’ll be going back and checking out their last few immediately after finishing this writeup. This has leapfrogged all others to become my album of the year so far, and I think anyone else will have a very tough time knocking it off that spot. Check this out if you are in any way into rock music or just music in general, you will not be disappointed.

Score: 9.5/10

Reviews

Blue Kubricks: the Leeds-based band are ready to take over the funk/alt world

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Leeds-based band Blue Kubricks have been bringing their fun brand of funk/alt-rock to the UK underground scene for the last few years. The quintet has begun to amass quite the following from their various singles released from 2019 onwards, as well as some impressive gigs both live and on stream. With just five singles released so far, the band are already making an impression on the UK scene.

Blue Kubricks’ Official Facebook

Starting with their debut track, ‘Incomplete’, it opens on an almost 90’s pop-rock style acoustic guitar chord progression before the rest of the band join in over the top that keeps the mood light and fun. The vocals come in and don’t change the feeling at all, sounding like a British Eddie Vedder or Scott Stapp. I’m a sucker for this style of music, both for the style and nostalgia. There isn’t too much to talk about in terms of structure or changes in this song; it’s just a straight-up pop-rock song featuring catchy, soaring vocals and some simple but awesome instrumentation behind it. There is a brilliant little guitar solo towards the end too. A great song!

‘Heroin’ opens on some instrumentation more reminiscent of Red Hot Chili Peppers or even Reef – the guitar playing being fantastic and working so well over the slightly simpler drumbeats and bassline. The vocals fit perfectly over the top of it all too, having such a great tone and style to them. There again isn’t too much in the way of dynamics in the song, but the genre and type of music almost excuses that and it doesn’t need too many massive transitions as the entire song is catchy and entertaining. It does mean it’s a tad hard to hear where the choruses are though, I have to admit. Another awesome solo follows what I think is the second chorus, this one definitely channels some heavy John Frusciante vibes. I enjoyed this even more than the first one and it makes the Overtone 2020 playlist!

‘You’re a Beach’ definitely lives up to its title with its opening riff, it feels like it would fit straight in on the Hawaiian coast! It impresses me that the band can seem to change their style a fair bit between each song while also maintaining their own sound throughout too, something that even big mainstream bands struggle with a fair bit at times. It also has the most indistinguishable chorus of all of the songs so far, it sounds awesome and the backing vocals making it sound even more catchy than it already was. There’s also a little funky bass fill before a guitar solo, both of them sounding fantastic and again very RHCP-y! Another final, catchy chorus ends another great song.

‘Jermaine’ mixes things up, opening on a great piano melody instead of guitars and somehow gives off even more of a 90’s vibe than their debut. It took me far too long to realise that this was going to be a completely instrumental song, getting to nearly a minute into a two-and-a-half-minute track before realising I hadn’t heard any vocals yet. This is, however, an excellent song – a calm, slow showcase of some simple yet emotional, impactful piano melodies backed by minimalistic drums and some strings towards the end. It’s a fantastic little track that would work perfectly in an album setting, even if it is a little odd for a standalone single.

The final single, and the most recent, is ‘Latin.’ It is obviously the heaviest song the band has released so far – the vocals opening it up with a slightly harsher tone before a pretty great guitar riff comes in behind, accompanied by some cymbal heavy drums. It quickly builds into the catchiest, biggest and best chorus they have I’d say. We also get another fantastic guitar solo before the final chorus, it sounding technically difficult and pretty damn impressive. The band go balls to the wall for the whole three minutes of this track and I love it, giving them a harder edge and changing their style yet again. It may be my favourite song by them, but it’s a pretty hard choice!

Overall: I honestly loved each and every one of Blue Kubrick’s songs. They were all interesting and different in their way and, while slightly indie in their mixing, they were different enough from the dozens and dozens of Artic Monkeys clones in this country that it made me like them so much more. Their sound is an amalgamation of so many different bands who I already like and I honestly cannot wait to hear more, and not just to see what style they come out with next!

Score: 8/10

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Interviews & Features

“I want to melt the faces at home”: Brand new TV show ‘Amped’ is set to bring rock music to the masses

The pilot of the brand-new music show ‘Amped’ is set to be filmed in November this year at the Waterloo Music Bar in Blackpool, hosted by journalist Anne Estella and frontman Brad Marr.

Completely unscripted, the programme is designed to capture the energy and the atmosphere of a live rock show as well as put emerging young talent on centre stage. Amped is all about supporting and broadcasting up-and-coming UK rock, covering different branches of the genre.

“It’s all about the new talent”

The programme will feature three new wave rock bands in every episode. Filmed as a live gig with behind-the-scenes interviews, the show’s loose structure will allow viewers to get a down-to-earth perspective of bands and artists before, during and after their performance.

Anne Estella said: “Rock TV shows have been going since back in the day. We all grew up with one, anyone from my generation and older, but the current generation doesn’t have one. I want to see new rock bands on TV and so I made it my mission – that’s what I was going to do.”

“I’m hoping for a couple of surprises and something a little bit different than your average gig.”

With an extensive history in the music scene, Anne Estella described Brad Marr as the ideal partner to host with due to his interest and knowledge of the UK rock community.

Brad Marr has some background in radio and TV when he lived in Australia, but Amped is set to bring on a new and exciting dynamic for the singer.

Talking about the inspiration and the driving force behind Amped, Brad Marr said: “There’s social media, there’s YouTube. But what’s better than just having to search for it? Having a central location where you can click on and watch a TV show and find something new without having to search for it. We bring it to the people so that’s the reason.”

When asked why is now the right time for a rock show like Amped, Anne Estella said: “I feel there’s been a real evolution, especially in the UK, with a new wave of classic rock. It started in 2017 and it’s become a genre in itself which is incredible, and so many people are really backing it up. We’re seeing it now but it’s still a very small community compared to other genres, for example. Writing is something I’ve done for a long time and I’ve got my YouTube channel and Brad’s got his podcast. 

“I always felt there must be something more and now is the time to do it. We’ve got the most amazing talented bands over here. If not now, when are we going to do it? Now’s the time.”

“Every time you go there it feels like home”

The first episode of Amped will be filmed at the Waterloo Music Bar in Blackpool which is promoted as “a venue for musicians ran by musicians.”

Brad Marr said: “I think the Waterloo is perfect for what we’re doing because it’s a musicians bar run by musicians for musicians. Their entire set up is for musicians. They could make a lot more money if they spent more money on food or whatever they wanted to, but they want to be a band venue and that’s exactly what this TV show is about – supporting the bands. It’s a match made in heaven.

“I’ve made a lot of drunken bad decisions in the Waterloo many times and even though it’s a long way from home for me, every time you go there it feels like home because it’s a musician’s place. It’s exactly what musicians need when they’re on the road. It’s this cool home-like pub that you know supports musicians so it’s perfect for us.”

Want to get involved with Amped? You can.

In the future, there might even be an application process in place for bands, artists and their biggest fans worldwide to put new talent forward to be included in the programme.

Anne Estella said: “I don’t have any specific bands in mind. If they’re good they’re good, right? It can be a tiny band that nobody’s heard of or it can be bigger bands. I don’t want anyone too big because that’s not the point of the show. We want to be supportive of the up and coming talent. Each time for each episode I want it to be a nice selection of different styles within the rock genre which we definitely have for the pilot.”

Reviews

Mallavora: is this hard rock band the breath of fresh air the British heavy music scene needs?

Mallavora promote themselves as ‘bringing heavy rock music back to young people in an inclusive space.’ Pretty big words for any band, never mind one that has only been around for a few years and only actively releasing music for less than two. However, having heard one of their songs already, they seem to be a damn fine group of musicians creating some good music. The band released their debut 4-track EP last year; it’s my job to sit down and see if their claims are true or not. 

Mallavora’s Official Facebook

‘Ego’ opens on a pretty heavy, interesting riff, although it does sound like a Biffy Clyro song that I cannot for the life of me place after an hour of searching. It soon heads into a HUGE opening chorus – Jessica Douek’s vocals sounding fantastic and powerful as she sings a catchy, singalong melody. 

This song is all about the chorus – a catchy, radio-friendly track that’s ideal for a single. The bridge after the third chorus is great, stripping the instrumentation back down while some repeated lyrics come in over the top. It builds up into a huge breakdown and then the song ends. The structure threw me off a little and I feel that I would have liked another chorus at the end. But, given that the track kicked off with one, it makes sense why they chose not to. Either way, it’s an incredibly catchy song and made my personal playlist. 

‘Deceiver’ explodes into another heavy riff, one that wouldn’t seem out of place on a Gojira album. I love the dynamics during the verse – just drums, a low, fuzzy bass and vocals for the first half. I don’t love the double-tracked vocals; in my opinion, it drops the production sound a little when the rest of the album sounds superb. It builds back into the heaviness with the low, distorted guitar coming back perfectly. The track stays heavy after the second verse, evolving the riff a couple of times, keeping the fun and heaviness whilst adding another great layer to the overall sound each time. The instrumentation writing with this band is fantastic. Another good song, so much so that I’m not sure what tracks I prefer so far – both were so different.

A drum roll leads to a still heavy but more Royal Blood sounding riff to open up ‘Favourite Mistake’. However, the verse really confused me. Between the accent and the melody of both the riff and vocals, it felt like I was listening to a heavier punk song or even something by Madness. It was cool, don’t get me wrong, it just threw me off at first. It all builds again into an amazing chorus, maybe my favourite one so far as it was the least repetitive of all of them while still being pretty damn catchy. Overall, I think this might be the most enjoyable song for me as everything worked: the vocals, the riffs, the structure – it all felt right. Another one added to my playlist!

And finally, we reach the last song on the EP, ‘Paradise’. Clocking in at nearly eight and a half minutes, it is almost twice as long as all the other songs which of course means either two things: amazing epic song or long, drawn-out mess. Thankfully, Mallavora continue their EP streak and I’m inclined to say the former.

It opens on a great guitar riff – me instantly falling in love with the effect and tone Larry Sobieraj uses. I have to admit I was a little shocked that the vocals started as soon as they did, I thought given the length of the track they’d drag it all out a little more. The vocals worked pretty well over the top, as did the simple drums. I loved this slow part, so much so that when it got heavy out of nowhere it again threw me off. Especially given that not only did it all get heavier and distorted, but the tempo sped up suddenly. After a slow chorus, it almost immediately drops down into another steadier, quieter chorus before repeating the formula again. It was a slightly easier transition this time, as at least this verse was in the same tempo as the heavier parts but it still comes out of nowhere a little bit. We get three verses before it drops down into a pretty cool little guitar riff. The lyrics are interesting, even if they are a little too conspiracy-y for me. This section slowly builds more and more, giving me pretty major Tool vibes with how slow they take it. Then, out of nowhere again, another heavier riff. It’s pretty good and gets better when it heads into more of the breakdown, not going on for nearly long enough before the vocals come back in and lead it to another double chorus. It then heads into the slow intro section for the final minute or so before giving us our only guitar solo of the EP. Whilst being kind of slow, it fit the track perfectly. I have no idea how to feel at the end of this song. Parts were good and definitely felt like it had an epic momentum, but it was also a tad messy – I’m not sure if that’s due to the shock I felt on my first listen and it might grow on me in time. 

Overall: Mallavora are all very talented individuals. The UK needs more good, young rock bands and they definitely fit this description. I wasn’t expecting this vibe for my very first listen, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. I would happily see these guys live and can’t wait to hear what they do next.

Score: 7/10

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Reviews

Scaled and Icy: Can Twenty One Pilots get back to their former glory?

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Alt/indie duo Twenty One Pilots are back this year with their fifth studio album, Scaled and Icy. While their last album (2018’s Trench) was still widely successful, I have to say I didn’t really like it. I think they veered too far away from their slight rock leanings and more into generic pop music. Having heard the singles off of their new album before this review, I have a horrible feeling that I will feel the exact same about this one, too. It’s a shame, as both ‘Vessel’ and ‘Blurryface’ were up there with some of my favourite albums of the 2010s. If I offend anyone with this, I just want to say sorry in advance. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Twenty One Pilots’ Official Facebook

‘Good Day’ opens on some electronic, sci-fi sort of sounds. As they clear up, we get a pretty great piano melody backed by a simple drumbeat. I wasn’t expecting something so upbeat and enjoyable straight out of the gate given the single quality, so I’m already thrown through a loop. It almost gives off some ELO/Madness vibes. Tyler Joseph’s instantly recognisable vocals come in over the top, delivering a surprising amount of range and top end given his usual lower, moody/rap style with a lot of their more recent tracks. It’s giving off more ‘Vessel’ feels and I am fully onboard. The chorus is pretty short and sweet; the dynamics of the song don’t change that much but it’s still catchy. It slows up a bit coming out of the second chorus, the piano and drums becoming even simpler, and the real highlight here are the fantastic vocal harmonies between the two guys. It slowly builds up more and more into a final chorus and outro to finish things off. A simple, strange way to open an album, but a massively enjoyable one. And, while it isn’t really rock music, it makes the playlist anyway! 

Next up is one of the singles, ‘Choker’. It opens on some great drums and electronic sounds, giving off major ‘Blurryface’ vibes. However, my main issue with this song is the same issue I had with the songs on ‘Trench’: it doesn’t go anywhere. The not-quite-mumbled vocals stay monotonously the same throughout and the instrumentation barely changes throughout. While the same could be said for the previous song, at least that one was upbeat and enjoyable. I miss when the band would have more dynamics in the song, changing seamlessly between rap to heavier stuff to piano or ukulele stuff. This just sounds lazy, honestly, like a band who have lost their spark after finding fame and no longer want to push boundaries and experiment but rather fit into the same general pop sound that the masses eat up because the radio tells them to. And, to top it all off, the chorus is nowhere near as catchy as 90% of their other stuff. 

The album’s lead single, ‘Shy Away’, opens on more drums and electronic sounds, like the previous song. It’s a little faster in terms of its tempo, which is nice at least. The verse is just fine really, it being a clear ‘we need to have something in this song than just the chorus.’ Speaking of the chorus, I both love it and hate it at the same time. It’s simple, anti-climatic and a little boring… but damn if it isn’t a massive earworm that I’ve had stuck in my head at various points since first hearing it. There isn’t much more to the song – the bridge generally has the same instrumentation as the chorus but with different vocals on top. It features the very bare basics of an American indie song these days. I’m on the fence as to whether I think this is a good song or not. I think, in the most basic way, it is a good song but it just isn’t a good Twenty One Pilots song. It lacks the spark that the band had in their early few albums and because of that I find myself not liking it as much. 

‘The Outside’ opens on a great electric/synth melody with the drums adding fantastically to the overall rhythm when they come in over the top. The verse again is simply meh, but the highlight here is the chorus – catchy vocals made even catchier by more fantastic harmonies and backing vocals. Heck, it even begins to get a little heavy towards the end of it before dropping back down to the verse again. The track has a pretty heavy 80s synth-pop vibe to it (Depeche Mode and stuff like that) which I dig. We head into some rap after the second verse which is something Tyler always does so well. And, if anything, the part is far too short. I want more quick, great lyricism. I wasn’t quite that fussed about the outro part after the last verse, but the song up until that point was excellent; my favourite TOP song since ‘Blurryface’. 

The final and most recent single from the album, ‘Saturday’, is up next. It opens on another annoyingly catchy chorus as I really don’t like it that much (maybe even less than ‘Shy Away’s). This song is similar to ‘Shy Away’ in a lot of ways actually, in that the dynamics aren’t really there and there is very little difference between the verses and choruses aside from different vocals. It’s so basic that I might as well be listening to The Weeknd. Again, have little to nothing to say about this song aside from it being my least favourite on the album so far. 

Outside of the slightly faster tempo and marginally more enjoyable chorus, if I didn’t know ‘Never Take It’ was a different song I may have assumed it was part of ‘Saturday’ still. That’s how samey and generic this band have become over the last couple of albums. It does have a (and I say this loosely) kind of guitar solo in it which is different I guess. 

I have similar sentiments towards the next few tracks, ‘Mulberry Street’, ‘Formidable’ and ‘Bounce Man’. They all suffer from the same issue as ‘Never Take It’ – both of them could quite easily blend into the same song. They are all perfectly fine slow indie songs, but there is absolutely nothing special about them. For a band that produced such interesting, genuinely awesomely written songs like ‘Semi-Automatic’, ‘Stressed Out’ and ‘Heathens’, it is such a disappointment to hear them lose that fire and edge and make generic pop music like this. It almost feels like they’ve suffered from the same issue that Eminem had after his rehab stint, he was happy and just made general pop music for the most part afterwards. This could be anyone making this album, whereas it took something special to make ‘Vessel’ and ‘Blurryface’. 

‘No Chances’ at least has a different feel to it, leaning a lot heavier on the duo’s hip-hop influences; Tyler’s rapping, slightly lower instrumentation and backing vocals gives me old-school Eminem vibes at times. It’s a much-appreciated change of pace after four or five songs that sounded very similar. The chorus, while catchy, is disappointingly slow and ballad-y given the feel of the rest of the song, but I’m willing to let it go given that the song overall is pretty good. This is honestly my favourite song on the album by quite a margin. It’s the closest thing to their older tracks and I believe it would have made a much better single than any of the other songs they released. It did enough for me to make it onto the playlist!

The final song on the album, ‘Redecorate’, unfortunately drops the quality of the album down again. It’s a slow, boring pop song which feels a little disappointing after how good the previous song was. At least there was some half decent rapping in here. 

Overall: I came into this review with pretty low expectations and I guess at least I wasn’t disappointed. I have to admit I found myself liking more of the songs from this album than the previous so at least it’s an improvement. Three or four good songs doesn’t make it a great album especially when the other tracks all sound eerily similar and kind of boring. I feel like after a few more listens, I may enjoy a couple of them more. However, I still cannot shake the disappointment that a previously great band has been reduced to this. It’s a shame, but I guess there will still be plenty of other people out there that’ll love this album.

Score: 3/10

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