The Review
This album opens with the fist-pumping Shock My Blood Into The Bitter Sun, a genre-bending piece of glittery punk metal many artists would give fingers to have made, complete with a fist-pumping chorus and a drums that are begging to have people from all walks of life feeling an irresistible urge to jump and headbang. Compliment all this with melodies so infectious they are likely to cause an epidemic very soon. This melts seamlessly into the chugging Bangin' The Door. While perhaps not as visceral as its predecessor, it is a great showcasing of Andee's talent for merging sarcastic, up-yours punk rock with a sense of fun so glam it sneezes glitter.
An abrupt stop brings us to Slide, a tongue-in-cheek track featuring a distortion sound Nine Inch Nails would be proud of and a loop to end all loops, over which Andee's unique vocals drawl another tale of wasted efforts. It has to be said that Andee's vocals are something you either like or hate, and perhaps given another music setting might prove irritating (bearing a similarity to Perry Farrell), however here it works very nicely. Kiss The Ground brings back the heavy-boots pogo stamp drumming of the first track, hybridising it with something that could be tentatively referred to as disco-funk with jangling guitars, a dancy bassline and a chorus melody that flirts playfully with pop falsetto, and the guitar solo is a great example of Andee experimenting with more unusual melodic forms (is that a harmonic minor interval I hear?) with an almost metallic framework. The Burning Wreck Of Love drops the disco to rock out with its devil horns shamelessly on display, yet keeping the seductive X-rated pop sound of its predecessor, which works well with the dark lyrics, Andee happily unleashing one hell of a chorus that while not exactly singalong is a fantastic collection of words to have going through your ears, and yet more of his guitar mastery is hiding just below the surface.
Gotta Be On Top Of Me slows the mood to a pretty little drumkit, guitar and keyboard interplay for a pop number that once again gives Andee's melodic side a chance to shine as the pace picks up again. Things do get repetitive towards the end though, and you find yourself waiting for This Is The Night which, after a momentary dip into the surreal world of what can happen with vocals and editing tools, is a sharp-toothed guitar-driven rocker with a sense of urgency in the tense lyrics and the up-and-down guitar solo. Wind It Up is a manic hybrid of industrial and pop, skipping about rhyming words with carefree abandon to drums a metal band would be proud of. A fine piece of distortion-pedal sunshine for the boys and girls to enjoy.
Girls Gone Wild takes the decision to suddenly spring a techno song on the listener, and if it weren't for Andee's distinctive vocals and subtly aggressive lyrical style, you'd swear it was a different band. This makes for a slightly jarring moment in an otherwise fluid album, however it does manage to find its glittery DM booted footing in time to tiptoe into Nine Butterflies, which once again shows Andee's exploration of melodic forms unusual in American rock music, fusing a distinctly Oriental scale form with gritty synths, and distorted guitars. The lyrical content is a little confusing, however it is poetic and slots into the song nicely.
Dressed And Desperate careers wildly into chaotic drums and desperate guitars, channelling Jane's Addiction here to good effect, occasionally teetering into copycat territory, however never quite falling in, being much more contained and focused, and keeping its individual stamp on things even when Andee's guitar playing is almost wearing a sign saying "Hello my name is Dave Navarro". Mary Jane Child Interlude is pretty throwaway, however it is a nice enough way to spend a minute, if a little confusing as to why it is there other than to perhaps lead into the grinding closer Losing My Mind which gives a sound so heavy it is like lead on a neutron star, pounding any notion this album has given way to commercialised pop into the ground. Andee's vocals sound like they are underwater half the time, whereas the other half of the time they are very raw. A NIN-esque synth provides the rusted icing on the iron cake, and the only issue is the confusingly abrupt ending.
So I suppose if you wanted to know what would happen if you put the 1991 Lollapalooza lineup all in one band, this might be a good estimate. It gets confused in places and some tracks seem superfluous or cut short, however it is overall an interesting little diamond in the rough that deserves recognition in a market flooded with identikit this that and the other outfits. Andee, we salute you and your relentless drive to do something unusual.
8/10
(And if that isn't enough to pique interest, the disc not only looks like a vinyl record, but is textured too.)
http://andeesvault.com/index.html
This album opens with the fist-pumping Shock My Blood Into The Bitter Sun, a genre-bending piece of glittery punk metal many artists would give fingers to have made, complete with a fist-pumping chorus and a drums that are begging to have people from all walks of life feeling an irresistible urge to jump and headbang. Compliment all this with melodies so infectious they are likely to cause an epidemic very soon. This melts seamlessly into the chugging Bangin' The Door. While perhaps not as visceral as its predecessor, it is a great showcasing of Andee's talent for merging sarcastic, up-yours punk rock with a sense of fun so glam it sneezes glitter.An abrupt stop brings us to Slide, a tongue-in-cheek track featuring a distortion sound Nine Inch Nails would be proud of and a loop to end all loops, over which Andee's unique vocals drawl another tale of wasted efforts. It has to be said that Andee's vocals are something you either like or hate, and perhaps given another music setting might prove irritating (bearing a similarity to Perry Farrell), however here it works very nicely. Kiss The Ground brings back the heavy-boots pogo stamp drumming of the first track, hybridising it with something that could be tentatively referred to as disco-funk with jangling guitars, a dancy bassline and a chorus melody that flirts playfully with pop falsetto, and the guitar solo is a great example of Andee experimenting with more unusual melodic forms (is that a harmonic minor interval I hear?) with an almost metallic framework. The Burning Wreck Of Love drops the disco to rock out with its devil horns shamelessly on display, yet keeping the seductive X-rated pop sound of its predecessor, which works well with the dark lyrics, Andee happily unleashing one hell of a chorus that while not exactly singalong is a fantastic collection of words to have going through your ears, and yet more of his guitar mastery is hiding just below the surface.
Gotta Be On Top Of Me slows the mood to a pretty little drumkit, guitar and keyboard interplay for a pop number that once again gives Andee's melodic side a chance to shine as the pace picks up again. Things do get repetitive towards the end though, and you find yourself waiting for This Is The Night which, after a momentary dip into the surreal world of what can happen with vocals and editing tools, is a sharp-toothed guitar-driven rocker with a sense of urgency in the tense lyrics and the up-and-down guitar solo. Wind It Up is a manic hybrid of industrial and pop, skipping about rhyming words with carefree abandon to drums a metal band would be proud of. A fine piece of distortion-pedal sunshine for the boys and girls to enjoy.
Girls Gone Wild takes the decision to suddenly spring a techno song on the listener, and if it weren't for Andee's distinctive vocals and subtly aggressive lyrical style, you'd swear it was a different band. This makes for a slightly jarring moment in an otherwise fluid album, however it does manage to find its glittery DM booted footing in time to tiptoe into Nine Butterflies, which once again shows Andee's exploration of melodic forms unusual in American rock music, fusing a distinctly Oriental scale form with gritty synths, and distorted guitars. The lyrical content is a little confusing, however it is poetic and slots into the song nicely.
Dressed And Desperate careers wildly into chaotic drums and desperate guitars, channelling Jane's Addiction here to good effect, occasionally teetering into copycat territory, however never quite falling in, being much more contained and focused, and keeping its individual stamp on things even when Andee's guitar playing is almost wearing a sign saying "Hello my name is Dave Navarro". Mary Jane Child Interlude is pretty throwaway, however it is a nice enough way to spend a minute, if a little confusing as to why it is there other than to perhaps lead into the grinding closer Losing My Mind which gives a sound so heavy it is like lead on a neutron star, pounding any notion this album has given way to commercialised pop into the ground. Andee's vocals sound like they are underwater half the time, whereas the other half of the time they are very raw. A NIN-esque synth provides the rusted icing on the iron cake, and the only issue is the confusingly abrupt ending.
So I suppose if you wanted to know what would happen if you put the 1991 Lollapalooza lineup all in one band, this might be a good estimate. It gets confused in places and some tracks seem superfluous or cut short, however it is overall an interesting little diamond in the rough that deserves recognition in a market flooded with identikit this that and the other outfits. Andee, we salute you and your relentless drive to do something unusual.
8/10
(And if that isn't enough to pique interest, the disc not only looks like a vinyl record, but is textured too.)
http://andeesvault.com/index.html
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