Sometimes music paints pictures, other times it evokes feelings, sometimes it just messes with your head a bit. Alcohol have a very apt name. This music makes you feel like your head is a dark and stinky pub at closing time. Your sat feeling like your brain might die any second, your eyes can’t stay open and your mouth tastes of those last 6 beers and the 5 cheap whiskey chasers, you can hear a rumble of the jukebox but their is a buzzing in your ears and your head is tripping out as you remember that you have also had 2 shots of Absinthe. Then you hear something else, its that guy again. He is always in the bar and he is always off his head, he stares you in the eye and mumbles in your ear then shouts and burps and sputters out the words as tears run down his red bloated face ‘I’m alone I’m alone’. Fuck I hate alcohol.
I’m Alone (Track 1) starts with a simple 4-chord sort of guitar riff a la early Greenday or NOFX. Its very rough and the recording is also very simple with a dirty, muddy distortion. Then its attacked by some pretty good crashing drums and then the most lazy and dispassionate of vocals. However, the lyrics are fast and furious and it almost makes you laugh out loud at how stupidly bland the vocal is in its tone yet the lyrics are sharp and catchy and its certainly bouncy, catchy punk music. This song has few dynamics and stays pretty simple all the way through. Its nothing over exciting but its fun, catchy and almost well performed dirty pop punk.
Break Down comes in with fast drumbeat and on all the tracks the drumming is very tight and impressive, I noticed. They have the drums high in the mix too and it really pushes the music forward as the drums seem to be the engine of Alcohol’s old rusty van. The guitars are the wheels splatting all passers-by with the mud as the vocalist laughs and shouts from the windows, you can’t ignore this manic machine as it bungles down the road. The guitar riff is more interesting in this song using some nice scales and still has the same dirty distortion. The guitar sound is really nice for this sort of music. As the vocals kick in, the riff speeds up and they fit nicely around the guitar. The vocals are again, really catchy and this sound has more in the way of dynamics than the first track and the backing vocals are nice at the end too.
Track 3, Love Drug, is a bit slower and again has some nice guitar scales but the overall feel is the same. Catchy lyrics, dirty guitars and driving drums. I stress that Alcohol really is a good name for these guys, at first their music adds a buzz to you belly and makes you want to dance around and act silly, I can imagine that live, these guys would be fun and you’d find yourself singing along If love is a drug then rejection is the comedown and rejection is the comedown then she is my drug but just like the substance from which they get their name, I can imagine that if I had too much Alcohol in bulk, I might get a bit sick of it!
Final track, I’m Free, also follows a similar pattern to the first track, ending in a fast and furious onslaught of punky, dirty madness and throwing your brain around like a fragile egg on a concrete playground. Its fun and emotional, its catchy and makes your head spin, but its nothing ground-breaking but its a lot of fun and I think for what it is, it does a good job. It has some nice original production and it is once again sweet lyrically, generally tight and good musically.
Slapped on the end, is a DVD, which I always like to see, a bit of an extra bonus yknow. It is the video to a track called Useless and its shows that Alcohol do have good imagination and even though the track isn’t great and is again, similar to the other tracks on this offering but with less dynamics. They do have a talent at making flash videos (it took frontman Tony something like 6 months) and it added to the fun and imaginative feel to Alcohols image.
This band are tight and do have a nice twist with infectious and fun lyrics and driving, bouncy punk music that has a interesting and grungy production. If they really want to go places I think they will need to add a few more flavours to this cocktail, use a few more beverages. But for a fun night out and a nice quick ear-blasting thrill, you can never beat a regular injection of Alcohol. I just hope I don’t get a hangover tomorrow!
Overall (2.5 / 5)
Review by Gaz
