- - -

ALPHA SAFARI :
COMMERCIAL SUICIDE

Ok, so many of you out there are already hip to AS, others won't have a clue what this Swedish band is about, so here's the lowdown. The band started in 2000 as "Washoe", formed by vocalist Patrik Wirens (ex- Misery Loves Co.), Entombed guitarist Ufo Cederlund, bassist Patrik Thorngren (ex - The Horror The Horror), and drummer Olle Dahlstedt (ex- Misery Loves Co.). So now they go by "Alpha Safari", and here we have their debut disc. This dropped in Europe last year on Treeman Recordings, and now Abstract Sounds has finally brought it to our shores. I knew this was gonna be different, I wasn't one of these brainless knobs that thought we were gonna get a new blast of Entombed styled Death-Metal, or an updated dose of depressing Misery Loves Co. influenced Industrial Rock. I had heard the "Punk" and "Indie" tags used from day one, and I have no problem with that, but this disc just fails to deliver the goods. To sum up the band's sound is a little difficult, but here we go... It's post-Grunge, kind-of-garagy, collage Alternative Rock, in the same vein as; Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Violent Femmes, and At The Drive-In. The only problem is that AS just doesn't have the songs. Oh, they try, I'll give 'em that. The first two cuts "Ousting The Pigs" and "Disappear" are really great, but then it's a long downhill slide after that. It's like they managed to come up with two songs, and then just stuffed the rest of the disc with filler. The songs are neither edgy enough for the underground indie crowd, nor commercial enough for the sheep that buy up every Foo Fighters release. The end result is an exercise in meritocracy. If not for the names attached to the project, I don't think this ever would have seen the light of day. Man, am I ever glad I didn't shell out $30.00 on an import copy... dodged that bullet!
RATING = 4 Alternative Rock (Released 2005)

- - -

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U/V W-Z

SOUNDTRACKS TRIBUTES COMPILATIONS

GOT A PROBLEM WITH ONE OF MY CD REVIEWS?
DO YOU AGREE WITH ME?
THEN GO TO THE

- - -

"Greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls."
 -Bruce McCulloch K.I.T.H. '91

HOME

IF YOU THINK MY CD REVIEWS SUCK, CLICK HERE!

urotsukidoji_1@yahoo.com

This page hosted by GeoCities Get your own Free Home Page