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From Brighton in the United Kingdom comes Böwlrider. Böwlrider mix the thrash metal of Motörhead, the stoner rock of Fu Manchu, the grunge of Mudhoney and the garage rock of MC5. We should be in for some raw music with a primal attitude, fuelled by lyrics about booze and all things that the big guy in the sky prohibited.
The CD was originally recorded in 2004 and only released at the end of 2008. No idea why, but just so you know. To make the party complete, we get a pretty lengthy effort from these British rockers. One of the songs on this platter is also a cover from one of their main influences; The song "In 'N' Out Of Grace" which was originally recorded by Mudhoney, on the famous Sub Pop Records grunge label, in the early nineties. I had high expectations, because I'm really into the influences mentioned. But… how disappointed can a man be? Such a great profile for a band, but such a bad result. The production is terrible. The guitars are way too messy and even thin in certain songs. The guitars for music like this should be fat and thick. The attitude behind this band blinds them in writing good lyrics. Most of the lyrics are way too cheesy. I understand that this music is about the fun things in life and about partying in general and you even get the idea that you're listening to a band having fun. The only problem though, is that you get the idea that the musicians are 12 years old and started playing their instruments only a week prior to the recordings. The only band member that gets an average score, is bass player Doom Lawson.
Did I mention the terrible artwork and CD insert yet? My intro to this review was so promising. I was ready to get me a healthy dose of raw rock 'n roll, but all I got was rape of the band's own roots. The rating this release gets is purely based on good intentions, if they had any. |
