eureka machines - do or die
having thought that the people behind the mighty wrath records had gone into some form of hibernation in the year of 2008, the label returns with a cracking powered up punk pop album of mighty proportions.
formed by a bunch of mates from other bands, sisters of mercy and the scaramanga six being of the main interest to yours truly, this ragged bunch of anti-pop heroes have decided to basically strip back the essence of rock-n-roll to its grin inducing basics, roll the dice of guitar based fun and multi layered 10cc styled harmony and see what happens.
no gimmicks, no intellectual pretension, just straightforward, head for the central nervous system guitar pop, and, i am pleased to say, given on the evidence provided, it totally works.
with many songs dipping into the history books for easy to spot sonic references, it doesn’t take too many spins before this 44 minute album really begins to hit the spot. whether this is the hook heavy the story of my (fucking) life with its american radio friendly chugga chugga guitars, busted styled chorus (except for the ever so naughty swearword) proving the band have really studied the art of perfect pop, as the song could easily become a massive crossover hit should some major record label give the band some well deserved love and attention, however, just as you think the song is yet another example of by-the-numbers radio friendly punk pop, unexpected dirty bass chaos really kicks in with a steve albini sanctioned alt.rock noisey breakdown before dropping into a hugely welcome king kurt saxophone solo spot.
such unexpected aural twists and turns never felt so refreshing.
while such pleasures are few and far between on most rock albums of late, they are scattered all over the 11 tracks on offer here. for example, 70s guitar solos and piano chords crash all over red wine smile making ben folds pack up his five bags and go home, the one who wouldn’t change you nods a head of respect to the excessive over the top productions of queen, and going down gives fans of josh hommes style of melodic but heavy rock grooves more reason to check out this glammed up bunch of tie wearing rockers, and even i cant deny that the use of layered vocals (a reoccurring feature throughout giving the feel that the band do have a bit of a prog-esque ideology) pleases the beach boy hater in me.
all in all, do or die is one of the most enjoyable guitar based pop albums i have heard in a long long time.
more detail : here - - wrath records