Band:
Sam McTrusty – Lead Vocals & Guitar
Ross McNae – Bass, Piano & Vocals
Barry McKenna – Guitar, Cello & Vocals
Craig Kneale – Drums & Vocals
Discography:
Vivarium (2009)
Guests:
Info
Producer Gil Norton
Released 8/6-2011
Reviewed 1/9-2011
Links:
free.twinatlantic.com
myspace
youtube
redbull records
They are described as alternative rock and that is about as correct as saying that a hole is round, don’t pay too much attention to the similar bands which were chosen because of the producer being involved with them. They feel to me like quite ordinary rock in general, some songs might be described as alternative but the album and band doesn’t seem to fall into that category. They do have a production and sound that feels like it is made for the band to find their way to you on the radio, the songs are short, the sound is clean and their is an air of political correctness over the whole thing. There is some variation in style and tempo between songs but not a massive one but it is something to maybe make the almost 47 minutes and 13 tracks seem like a good choice.
Free does not really tick any boxes for my part, they feel much to politically correct and alternative is a bad name for what they do as there is nothing alternative about it. Their music in general feel quite uneventful and daft, it does not make me as a listener feel anything other than it is alright but will it end soon. Instrumentally it is quite good, the songs are fine as well but there are some things that just do not work with this album.
The most annoying thing is the really bad singer, his voice is not particularly good to begin with and then he sings in a Scottish dialect which sound okay at best and ridiculous at worst, it is most obvious on the slower tracks. Track seven is the worst example of this being a very slow song called Crash Land, the vocals sound so pathetic that it is laughable in this track. Mostly this is down to the dialect making it sound really silly, or I would say in that case it is all down to that one thing.
Otherwise there are some quite good stuff like the opening track Edit Me, the fourth track Yes I Was Drunk, the title track and track eight Make a Beast of Myself are all good tracks, but Crash Land is just so bad that you want to hear it again and laugh. I just keep wondering why no one noticed this when the album was in production as it is too late to change it now. Sometimes I wonder if it would not be better to use ex Formula1 driver David Coulthard who also have a terrible dialect to listen to would have taken over the vocal duties of this band, it couldn’t be worse I think.
It is not only an album that is not worth buying because of it being a dull politically correct uneventful album, it is also an album that will give Red Bull money if you buy it and that is about as great as giving money to the Taliban or any other religious extremist group. Therefore this album is clearly one to avoid as the dullness of the album will not do you any good and the fact that you do not give any money to Red Bull if you don’t buy the album is one more compelling argument to leave this album in the shelves and not buy it. It is not an album I recommend.
HHHHHHH
