Andrew Danso

Alternative rock is probably one of the most vague, misconstrued attempts at putting together a genre. Greenthief tag themselves ‘alt’, so how on earth does that relate to their sound? Rock but a little bit different? Isn’t that what every new rock distro breaks their back over claiming?

Greenthief are alternative by way of being adventurous. Through fancy, sophisticated progressions and a layered production, the Aussie four-piece meander across their coloured plain of rock more artistically than the moody taboo which alt-rock often carries. Track “Vultures” is put together like a progressive tune, yet it only runs beyond the four minute mark. It contains jump up and rock choruses, with calm and space in between, coloured by Steve James' (Sex Pistols, The Jam) production, aligning fizz and whirls enchanting the mix.

7/10 Powerplay issue #136

Emerging from the grunge laden Seattle, SYFT do the kind of hard-rock which packs a punch live, but struggles to find its way in the form of a full length album. The commercially ready New Beginning certainly won’t fail to find an audience, because they’re definitely not breaking any ground – sounding akin to Slipknot, Creed and Pod may be no bad thing, but straight imitation is another, and SYFT’s latest, pushes to the bone on being another copycat. The album feels dirty and hard edged, but the repetitive (notably in-same-key vocal) labours through the entire release, thwarting each tune into becoming something predictable. New Beginning would make for a strong EP, but as a full length, it’s as predictable as a wasp on speed.

6/10 Powerplay issue #136

Is it ever too late for potential? Is there a time when potential finally expires after its sell-by date, and becomes nothing, or frankly, failure? Perhaps, and it best coins The Square Hippies, who have lots and lots of promise, but are slow burners when it comes to realising their wealth of dreamy, quirky rock. Past their sell-by date because of the age of the personnel in the project – it’s difficult not to feel the poignancy of their self image and refuse to put that together with their sound; depressingly it begs the question “if you can’t make it now, how long do you really have left?” According to the band webpage “leaving music behind for our grandchildren” sounds a great deal bleaker.

6/10 Powerplay issue #136

A Sloth is the slowest moving animal on earth - it travels at a speed of thirteen feet per hour. Which means that if Atriarch were an animal, they’d more or less move at the same speed as a Sloth – maybe point-five of a foot quicker, being general. Indeed, Forever the End is slow, very slow.

This project is a doom and black metal affair, with wails of noise and discontent throughout, dragging the listener through an uncomfortable audio portrayal of hell. If provoking emotions of discomfort is Atriarch’s main focus in the business, then with confidence, there’s not much to fault – but if musically, you look at their lazy song structures, and their noisy incomprehensible riff patterns, then there’s a whole lot wrong with the entire release.

5/10 Powerplay #136

It’s one thing to be an angry razor-sharp doom band, expressing your outward vitriol against whatever aspect of life may be troubling you (in Children of Doom’s case it means flicking 'v's at the camera, and dressing up as if the 70s never left us) and another to actually make the listener angry, because of the poor quality of the doom played back.

The French trio’s message, lyric and image are really a smokescreen to what they actually sound like on playback, which is a tepid stoner band, with a handful of tepid punk ideas put about. Emphasis on tepid, as Children of Doom struggle to find much, if any groove in their stoner predicament - and are candidly tame during the punkish progressions too. CoD’s vocalist who goes by the name of ‘B.B.F’ does his best to tear apart the entire experience with ghastly wails over the progressions, giving them little substance and a frustrating character. Aptly tagged ‘stoner-doom-punk’ because you have to be inebriated in clouds of illegal chemicals, to actually appreciate the material. Get a grip.

3/10 Powerplay issue #136