The Clock begins like title music for a Commodore 64 shoot ’em up before turning into a fast paced nu-indie stomp akin to Enter Shikari, though it sounds more like a Weebl spoof of the genre, with some of the gurned vocals on the verse teetering dangerously close to Jedward territory. It’s a high-energy, near cartoon appropriation that is an occasionally interesting collision between electronica and happy-hardcore.
Things are a bit more Linkin Park on The Great and Inevitable, with synths that sound like the Casualty theme music, similarly barked vocals from Robin Speight and insipid lifeless verses.
Closing track Untitled Pt.2 has some lovely wandering synth lines that flutter around the place, acting as a nice contrast to the heavier guitars pounding in the background, meanwhile AJ Reeves manages to deliver a decent vocal third time around utilising the nasal qualities to his voice far better than on previous tracks. Everything dog-piles on top of one another on the choruses, becoming more of an unfocused mess than a rousing mosh-pit inducing pile-up. It’s the most successful track on this record, managing to juggle this group’s diverse influences with some degree of success but the band haven’t quite managed to transform their abundant energy into something that really holds up as a standalone track.
Undoubtedly a group highly capable of delivering a raucous and exciting live show this doesn’t exactly translate well on these recordings.
[Rating:2]
