High octane rock ‘n’ roll
Here's a new Aussie band injecting a slice of old school rawk n' roll into their high energy alternative Rock, and doing it rather well on the most part. It's a sound that owes as much to a band like Thin Lizzy as it does to Nirvana, and in doing so broadens their appeal nicely. This Perth four piece could find themselves straddling the Alternative and Bogan Rock markets quite effectively!
The album opens in strong style with the swaggering shuffle of 'Best Thing', which only needed a little more imagination in the lyrical department ('You're the best thing that never happened, Oh baby can't you see'. Hmmmm) to be a classic moment. It's great to see a band like this shake things up, musically and lyrically. The words go from the ridiculous to the serious, and the mood darker, on 'Recession Aggression', obviously a pissed off statement about the Global Financial Crisis. 'DEP' comes across as a cross between Motorhead and Blondie (as left field as that sounds), and features a highly impassioned vocal performance from singer Kohen.
Beyond this we get the catchier, more radio friendly yet no less effective 'Miss You', which is just a great song, and shows serious single potential with it's alternatively sombre and uplifting tone. A definite stand out cut. The acoustic but still Rockin' ballad 'Earn Me' lends the album some tasteful dynamics, while 'Lies' is just wall to wall raunch, and would get any sweaty pub pumping.
It's not all good news however. 'Sex All Night' is just trite and could have been left off, and 'You Will See' also utilises an all too familiar Rock chord progression that's just a tad yawnworthy.
My Own Nemesis is an album which opens very strongly, provides some very nice moments through the guts but unfortunately runs out of puff a little in the latter stages. It's a very understandable ploy to load up the first 2/3 of the album with your best material and bury the filler towards the end, and the good outweighs the bad by a long, long way. Overall it's an excellent first up effort for these lads. It's ballsy high octane music with added variety and a touch of classic Rock.
(Independent/Firestarter Distribution)
