This is the first album from the Plymouth based band and is their first release since the debut EP on Deck Cheese Records ‘Your Life Is Your Direction.’ This album has again been released on Deck Cheese however is very different to the EP in sound. The vocals are still distinctly Kelly but she seems to have improved an awful lot since the EP with her lyrics being spat out with a whole new level of confidence. She is obviously now a lot more experienced in what she is doing and as a result she has put in the performance of a lifetime.
There are twelve tracks on this album and right from the drum roll off set you know that you are in for something truly special. The sound has definitely evolved and long gone are the days of the Skacore image – the horns are still there, but instead of putting in catchy little solos, they flow with the rest of the instruments and fit in to the line up perfectly. The guitars have a cutting metallic edge to them that really suit the newly found sound of the band – this can especially be heard on track 5, ‘Close to hell and burning,’ in which Jon puts in some amazing little solos. The backing vocals of Jon are also sounding amazing – they really work well alongside Kelly’s strong lead vocals and the contrast in sound is absolutely killer. The Ska style riffing of old was good but it would definitely not fit in these days with the ever evolving No Comply. There are some absolutely cracking bass lines on this CD – Nick has really put his all in to this one and come out trumps. Stunning drumbeats are also on display as Si crashes his way through the album. The drumming has always been of a pretty high standard from No Comply – but this time they’ve surpassed themselves in their slick portrayal of them.
I had never heard a single one of these tracks before I put the CD into the player but I took an instant liking to them and found the change to be an extremely refreshing one. One of my favourite tracks on this CD has to be ‘Lifetime of destruction’ – this one really does have it all. The metallic guitar playing can be heard extremely clearly, the drumming is spot on, the bass lines are nearing on perfect, the horns are cracking, and Kelly’s vocals are as amazing as ever. The quality seems to extend on to track 8, ‘A bloody welcome,’ which is another of my favourites. It has so much bite to it as a track and could quite easily be taken out of the context of the album and placed as a single. I think that this one would have an amazing reception as a single as the bite is there, there is definitely a large degree of catchiness to it, it flows perfectly, and is just generally one of the stand out tracks of the album.
Finale track ‘A waking dream’ however surpasses all of the others – it is a lengthy little number, but you cant help but love it – no matter how much you play it, it fails to tire and the brilliance of it just seems to live on and become greater and greater. There is extremely effective use of fills on this one with a blinding guitar one, a super joint bass and drum one, chilled out horn ones, and plenty more to keep you entertained, and more importantly keep that smile on your face. Near the end it all winds down nicely with a mellow instrumental carrying on – and you can just tell that at any point you’re about to be hit with one last blast of power – and of course this does indeed come to finish off the album. It rounds the album off perfectly and leaves you completely satisfied with what you have just encountered – that being a top quality No Comply debut album.
This Plymouth sextet really does conquer all with this storming album effort of greatness. No Comply are definitely a band set to make it huge before long – they have already had a video gracing the screens of Scuzz TV with a track from the EP. So with the highly improved sound of the album there is no reason to me why they should not conquer all before too long.
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UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
