April 17, 2008

‘Mean Girl’ is an interesting new release of music from the hit 80’s Oi band that is The Business. This is a strange one in that three of the tracks included here are new, whilst the remaining five are live tracks that were actually recorded at The Marquee back in 1982. Although a bizarre mix of old and new, ‘Mean Girl’ works incredibly well as an eight track recording of Oi punk excellence. The EP has been released through Bad Dog Records and I personally find this to be a greatly enjoyable offering of music; the EP has its flaws but still ‘Mean Girl’ should provide for a greatly enjoyable listening experience for all those that hear it.

‘Mean Girl’ is fittingly the track that begins this release, one of the new songs and a fine display of punk rock it is from the band too. The vocals are excellent, musically this band is as hard hitting as ever, and all in all this is an absolutely fantastic way to begin this release. ‘Mean Girl’ really sets the mood well for the rest of this release and the music of The Business certainly does not here disappoint. ‘Till The End’ continues the trend of new music from this release and is a second stunning track. It’s a powerful track and once more the fine sound of the band is put across incredibly well. It’s not the strongest track you’ll ever hear but a fine offering of music from The Business nonetheless and one that I personally am quite fond of. The lyrics are powerful but musically the track is not so great, it’s not a bad track from The Business but certainly not one of the bands best.

‘1-2-3’ is the final track of new music from this release and is I feel the best of the three that are on display here. The music is energetic and lively, the vocals are put across incredibly well and there’s an extremely high level of energy running through the track. From start to finish this track is jam packed full of excitement, an excellent slice of Oi and an impressive way to cap off the new music of this release. This track I would say is up there alongside the best tracks that this band has ever recorded, it truly is that excellent and long time fans of The Business will surely not be disappointed with what they hear here.

All five of the live tracks here are well put across by the band and as ever the sound produced by the band here is absolutely electric. Included here are live recordings of ‘Loud Proud ‘n Punk’, ‘Blind Justice’, ‘Suburban Rebels’, ‘Harry May’, and ‘Smash The Discos’ also. Although the sound quality for these live tracks isn’t great, their inclusion on this release is absolutely brilliant I feel. Although it’s odd that this release should comprise of three new recordings and five live tracks, the fact is that a recorded bootleg was recently unearthed of the gig at The Marquee and it’s therefore entirely understandable that the band wished to put the music out there for all fans to hear. These five tracks portray the live sound of this band more than twenty five years ago and the music here certainly does not disappoint. The live music contains all the energy and vigour that you would expect of this band and more, the live recordings certainly do not disappoint and as the release reaches its end with ‘Smash The Discos’ always this EP has been highly impressive.

The Business is an excellent Oi band, and with this ‘Mean Girl’ release the band showcases a fine melodic sound of new as well as a supreme spattering of live recordings of old. For fans of The Business I would suggest that ‘Mean Girl’ is an EP that you must seek to get hold of’; the music will surely not disappoint as always this release is full of energy and not for a moment does this fine band disappoint here. ‘Mean Girl’ contains exciting music from start to finish, eight tracks are included here and I personally believe that this EP is one that is well worth investing in. If you are, or in fact ever were a fan of the Oi punk genre then I would thoroughly suggest giving this a listen; the new music is an interesting display of where The Business is at now as a band, whilst the live recordings from 1982 showcase sublimely just where this band was 25 years ago. Add this to your collection, relax, and let the fine Oi punk music of The Business enter you aurally; you’ll surely not be disappointed with what you find here.

Label: Bad Dog Records
Release Date: 21st April 2008

Rating:

Rich

UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.

The Sorrow is a fairly average metalcore band from Austria. ‘Blessing From a Blackened Sky’ is the bands début album and to be quite honest there’s not much of interest on display here whatsoever. The sound is pulled off fairly competently, there’s just no life in it all. The Sorrow jumps here from track to track without ever showing any signs of enthusiasm, there is no passion in the music and it’s therefore an extremely uninspiring album of metalcore mediocrity.

There is no denying that the members of The Sorrow are fairly talented musicians, there is a decent amount of musical ability on display here but the music just contains no personality. The Sorrow fail to make the music their own, there’s just no way whatsoever of telling The Sorrow apart from any other metalcore band; individuality is lacking in the music and this album is therefore not very exciting at all to listen to.

The band here progresses on this ‘Blessing From a Blackened Sky’ album through some interesting chord changes, a decent vocal display, and some finely executed drum beats. The problem is not in the music itself but in the way that it all comes across. Although the music is good, still you do not feel compelled to listen; the severe lack of individuality and personality in the music means that the music comes across as half hearted and no matter how good this album may be musically, the passion is always sadly lacking.

The vocals are often here shouted, there is the odd melodic moment however and ultimately the music just comes across as all too predictable. The music lacks imagination and listening to this album can therefore at times be difficult. ‘Blessing From a Blackened Sky’ is not a bad album in terms of musical ability here shown, it is however a bad album in the way of energy, enthusiasm, and ultimately excitement. Metalcore pulled off well can sound excellent, a sublime mix of metal and hardcore; this is not however what this is, this début album from The Sorrow is an unexciting affair of predictable and uninspired mildly entertaining noise. The music lacks substance but it’s not done badly, it’s not done particularly well either but still I would not label this a bad album.

Track titles such as ‘The Dagger Thrust’, ‘Darkest Red’, and ‘Death From a Lovers Hand’ suggest of the predictability of this band, it’s all a tad too generic and contrived. It’s as though the band has read some sort of ‘Metalcore Handbook’ and thrust as many clichés into the music as possible with the view that the more the music contains, the better. On this ‘Blessing From a Blackened Sky’ album The Sorrow sounds like a band trying desperately to replicate the sound of others rather than focussing on creating an original sound of the bands own. The sound produced here soon becomes tired, far before the twelve tracks of this album are over then any interest will be long since lost.

Were The Sorrow to inject a bit of passion into the sound then there is no doubt in my mind that this would be a decent album. The music is predictable but the member of The Sorrow definitely possess great talent. The band members here do not make the best use of their talent and from the enthusiasm displayed here are not particularly enjoying the music that they are producing; The Sorrow is not a bad band however and ‘Blessing From a Blackened Sky’ is not an entirely terrible début album. Huge improvements need to be made to the sound, with a few tweaks and changes however I can seriously see The Sorrow becoming an excellent band. The talent is there, all that’s needed now is passion and The Sorrow will be the finished article. Perhaps a change of vocalist is in order for this band, that could well be the detrimental factor behind the current shortcomings of The Sorrow. I’ll be interested to see what this band has to offer in the future, my opinion is that things can only get better.

Label: Drakkar Records
Release Date: 6th August 2007

Rating:

Rich

UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.

Archives for April 17, 2008

The Business – Mean Girl

The Sorrow – Blessing From a Blackened Sky