‘New Beginnings Of Old Stories’ is the fourth studio album from the UK skate punk band that is 4ft Fingers. The album consists of twelve tracks and if you’ve ever heard one of the bands albums in the past then you can expect more of the same from 4ft Fingers here. Never has the band’s sound developed much and always when 4ft Fingers returns with any new material, you always know what to expect; good solid skate punk music.
The album begins with the fairly catchy ‘Where Did All The Legends Go?’, progresses with the punchy ‘Thick As Thieves’, never do you feel here though that the band ever really gets properly into its stride. The album is okay, I don’t feel that it showcases 4ft Fingers at the band’s very best however and always here the energy levels seem to be a little lacking. From start to finish the album is always enjoyable to listen to, having listened to all of the band’s previous albums however I’d have to say that 4ft Fingers has done a lot better than this in the past and that this is the weakest album of the lot.
The tracks always possess an excellent guitar element and fine vocal style also, the tracks lack passion however and always you find here that there is something a little lacking about the music. This is technically a pretty solid album and with tracks such as ‘The Tale Of Benjamin Lloyd’ and ‘Deal Those Cards’ the bands fine skate punk sound is put across incredibly well. The tracks all have excellent choruses and the album is quite interesting to listen to, it definitely lacks edge however and I therefore believe the bands other albums to be of far superior overall quality. All of the bands albums sound quite similar; it’s just that with this one the bands members all seem to be lacking in passion and excitement to record; they’ve done it all before and it just seems to me that they’re getting a little bored of it all.
If you’ve never listened to the music of 4ft Fingers and liked it then you’ll also enjoy this album from the band; it’s a fairly decent skate punk album and always it’s a lot of fun to listen to. The choruses are fantastic to sing along to and there’s a great uplifting quality about the music at all times; comparing these twelve’s tracks to the bands earlier work however and I do feel that the band sounds a little tired here. The music is well put across and in all areas the sound has been strongly constructed; as it’s the bands forth album and they’ve never really changed their style at all though I do feel that 4ft Fingers is here running out of ideas a little.
The band’s sound is quite sturdy throughout here and for the finest sing along moments I’d definitely recommend giving ‘Where Did All The Legends Go?’ and title track ‘New Beginnings Of Old Stories’ a listen. ‘Where Did All The Legends Go?’ is the albums opener and gets the album off to a great start; it’s three minutes and 33 seconds in length and always here the vocals are excellent and the guitar riffs packed full of energy. ‘New Beginnings Of Old Stories’ on the other hand is the albums closing number and is close to four minutes in its length. It brings the album to a fantastic finish and really ends the release nice and tidily. It leaves you excited to hear further 4ft Fingers music in the future, and although the band’s sound is not at its best here for much of this album; I do feel that the future is still potentially quite bright for 4ft Fingers so long as the band can rediscover its enthusiasm.
If you like skate punk music then I’d definitely recommend giving the music of 4ft Fingers a listen; don’t start with this album though as the bands other three are all a lot better than this one. ‘New Beginnings Of Old Stories’ is not a bad album, it’s just a bit average when compared with the bands others and for a better listening experience you should therefore look to the bands earlier albums of ‘At Your Convenience’, ‘From Hero To Zero’, and ‘A Cause For Concern’.
Label: Not On Your Radio
Release Date: April 7th 2008
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
