From vondosmanoff
Very elaborately ideed, Debaser proclaims itself to be a �funky alternative electro lo-fi power pop rock trio� (some more modifiers, please!), which is a bizzare name for music rather similar to production of a whacked-out hurdy-gurdy player.
What should be mentioned first is the macabre overall sound of the CD, which apparently is not work of Jason Blyth, Ross Thorburn and Andy MacLeod. While in quiet passages it is quite clearly audible (though lacking sharpness), when the band drives on full throttle, the sound blurs into a kind of opaque noise wall, dull, flat and unbalanced. Once it reminds the early 90s in Seattle, then heavy metal falling from the sky recorded through cracked casserole.
The CD opens with �This Is�, the heaviest, but in some sense the most classical two chord piece starting very quietly and suddenly bursting into an unclear sound massacre. What domains this song is an altercation of low frequencies interlacing in such manner that the listener cannot nearly distinguish individual instruments. The pace stumbles but unlike the last song, a really unique �Swing�, the drummer managed to keep �the wounded hind syndrome� in bearable extent. �This Is� is full of what has already been played a thousand times, not at least inventive or interesting and musically plain. The main guitar riff sounds as if borrowed from Roxette.
Though simple, the placatory and melancholic �Slow Suicide� is without any doubts the best track which stands out of the drabness of the whole promo CD by its power, elaborateness and mildness. By melodic and catchy main guitar riff resembling an anchored ship calmly swinging on waves on a sunny day, it presents Debaser in their full strength. Not practising any kind of musical outrage otherwise leading to complete disaster, the band sounds very compact and relaxed. Nevertheless, it is the omnipresent problem with singer and weak backing vocals what puts the song with hit ambitions down.
Number three, a cloying tear-jerker called �Scarlet Fever� is what you could load your hi-fi with if you wanted to do a little pulling. Anyway, the result might be quite dubious � the object of your amorous attempts could run away. The three minutes and fourty-eight seconds of boredom brim with listener�s yawning and do not bring anything new to the widening puddle of endless guitar sentiment. It is a lump of sugar that turns bitter in your 5 o� clock tea just after a couple of sips. Think of any cliche of tear-jerkers you could: ponderous ooh-ooh backing vocals, sampled strings, terrible cheesy lyrics sung with grace of a horny elderly walrus and dog-tired guitar solos - it is present.
�She� is a short endeavour to reflect the definition of the band as an alternative one. This track is really alternative, in the true meaning of the word. No matter how your humble reviewer tried, he could not find any simile to the the original mixture of programmed percussions, colourless computerized vocals and washboard style played guitar. Well, maybe... Imagine yourselves stealing your grandad�s creaky and wobbly bicycle with half-filled, constantly seeping tires and riding it a couple of miles and you got it.
�I�m Sorry�, a short song in �Scarlet Fever� style followed by a comic jewel of �Thirty Fingers� � �Swing�, by its ride cymbal patterns resembling jazz. However, this turns out to be the the iceberg the already sinking cruiser of Debaser bumped into. The song is fragmented, as if made up of a couple of ideas so inconsistent, that even something like chorus did not put them together. Very interesting feature of the song, apart from drumming, is guitarist�s creation of out-of-tune feedback sounds, over which hobbles the wounded hind of drummer�s triola patterns. Swinging ends up in a kind of hit-whatever-you-have, a kamikaze drummer�s solo which, no matter that the guys from Debaser meet eventually, is reeeaalllyy funny and underlines musical immaturity of Ross, Jason and Andy who seem to be sure in waters of melodic guitar pop rock, effective melodic simplicity and certain abstemiousness. These features are, in my opinion, the main strong points of Debaser�s production.
Rate: 30% |