After a calm and unsuspecting intro piece, the group burst into the supreme Flawless, highlighted by a belter of a chorus, and everything else from the dense bass tones, to the sweet riffs, to the avid vocals also impressing pretty well; likewise, Brain Dead maintains the buzz with a hooking melody and a rocking energy as it hits its peak, and the lyrics are simple yet enjoyable. Flux features some real contagious work from the guitars, and at this point, they’re just churning out a perpetual drift of songs you can’t help but proudly join in and sing along to.
Afterlife eases the pace up a little and displays a greater sense of sincerity and emotion then ever before, and effectively so, and Digital People delivers better yet in that area, examining how in an age of being wired to the internet, social media and so forth, that proper human communication has been taken for grant and even damaged, and it’d be safe to say the track now has extra meaning with the world fresh off experiencing a global pandemic and an endless array of lockdowns.
After a sensitive pair of numbers, the band get the excitement pumping back up with the bouncing and inspiring Dream A Little Bigger. Little Hell is another smashing sonic whammy while the relatable writing continues to click, and Blossom and is just a pure swinging, high-octane riff exhibition.
The words of Plastic Flowers especially compel, scrutinising how blind we are as a human race to the amount of harm and destruction we’re causing on the planet and how little many will do to alter our habits in order to fix the problem, and the concluding title tune carries a firm weight and conveys that sense of helplessness and the worry of whether you’ll ever be able to break out from the cycle.
The Canterbury quartet’s sophomore album is a really tremendous effort that continuously fires you up with a series of hard-hitting rock numbers which are so infectious and energetic, all while expressing some fantastically thoughtful written insights that any listener can surely connect with.
SMALL MUSIC SCENE 