The bands debut album – and in fact the band itself – contains a special little Pearl of greatness. Jeff Ament provides the bass, which will surely draw in a large initial crowd, but, like a pearl, at the centre of it all there’s really not that much. It’s not so much bland as … unremarkable. Joseph Arthur’s vocals are solid, but lack any engagement, and have a tendency to be overpowered by what should be backing music. Which may be attributed to the studio, but the album was engineered by Brett Eliason, who has worked with Ament (i.e. Pearl Jam) for a long, long time.
Overall, there’s nothing terrible here, but, the obvious name drop aside, there’s nothing that special.
For what it is, a solid release, with no outright flaws, it should be a 6 but for sheer mediocrity it gets a 5. Slightly harsh maybe, but they have one of the original grunge rockers and have turned out a slice of generica so unremarkable that all I’m able to recall is the effort required to hear the words over the instruments.
Looking forward to hearing something better from them.
5/10
Check out more info on the band and album below
Sharing's Caring:
