What’s In The Box? – This week’s most played releases
on August 19th, 2011This week’s most played releases around the office come from Canada’s Living With Lions, Perth’s Mezzanine and Sydney’s N-Police. See below for more information / opinions about each release.
LIVING WITH LIONS – HOLY SHIT (Adeline / 3Wise) [More About It / Purchase]
You may have cottoned onto this one when it was released in the US & Canada back in May, there was no shortage of controversy around the artwork. Now it get’s a local release for the first time. It picks up nicely from their ‘Mark Your Mark’ album (The two bonus tracks on this Aus version come from that album). Their catchy blend of melodic punk rock has been well received and they are definitely in the upper tier of bands playing this style at the moment. The band doesn’t stray too far from their base sound, which can be good and bad, for their style is solid, but once you near the back end, you don’t get that incentive to play it back again. With time and more development I’m sure the band will work on variety and continue to get bigger and better sounding with each album. If you like gritty melodic punk rock and you aren’t already familiar with them, this is your chance. It’s out in stores now locally.
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MEZZANINE – Novella (Gun Fever / Firestarter) [More About It / Purchase]
Blazing indie-rock out of Perth is what these guys offer on this their debut EP. For a debut effort the band seems to have really worked out what they want to do, and have gone in all guns firing. They sound like a band who’ve been at it for years. The tracks are all lengthy without being boring, each one different from the other yet still keeping to a recognisable stamp. ‘Can’t Feel A Thing’ is the starting point, a very radio friendly indie type track with a hint of darkness to it, while the title track ‘Novella’ offers a brighter vibe and a foot tapping beat. It’s the instrumental number ‘The Guardian’ that caught my attention though as a highlight. Seems to have all the right indredients and leaves you not even wanting to think about how vocals would fit in the mix. A name to watch, won’t be everyone’s flavour, but if you dig some guitar rich indie rock, hit the link above and give these guys a go.
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N-POLICE – ‘Artificial Suns’ (Diamond Industries / Serpents Nest) [More About It / Purchase]
Pulling this one out of the mail I had to check it wasn’t some ten years late in arriving.. Been quite a while since the name Nintendo Police has popped up, but low and behold, this one isn’t old and late mail. The band has re-recorded some of their older tracks, and thrown in some new ones onto this new 10 track album. The band first popped up around 1996 and were regulars on Hornsby / Sydney hardcore shows, members went onto other things and I guess there was still some life left in the band yet and they hit the studio over a couple of years laying these tracks down. Highlights include ‘Artificial Suns’, ‘Hells Gates’, ‘My Story’ and ‘Doomed’. Expect some shows later in the year they say, so look this one up, it’s a mixed affair variety wise so there is probably something for most people’s taste on it, ten tracks, ten bucks, why not?
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