Lowfive - 'Emergency Disaster Kit' (Music For Nations)
3/5
By: Kevin Molloy
By f**k, we've been waiting for this. Haven't we? Well, whether you had or not, the first notes of 'Emergency Disaster Kit' come as one of the most crucial, vital, refreshing bursts of noise this side of the 00s. Which makes it all the more disappointing that the latest, turbulently energetic strummers on the scene fail to continue the trend.
The first four tracks on 'EDK' truly are sensational. 'Black Noise' is a 4-chord strut that will have every listener instantly wishing for the long hair it demands; the ballsy vocal reminiscent of AC/DC or some such rasping rockers, and replete with gasps, grunts, sighs and general nonsensical outbursts. Début single 'Too Much Of Nothing' has something of The Strokes in the vocal distortion and conscious stylisation, but with the melodies and reckless ease of The Libertines. 'Hard Times' is a smooth mix of cascading guitars meeting the syncopated rhythms, before they jack all that nonsense for a unity of rock that will truly shake your core; detuned guitars, choir-like vocal harmonies and power on the scale of minor natural disasters. And that's all before the riff kicks in. Oh, the riff. Not even The Darkness conjured anything this glorious in their pillaging of the bygone days. Spirit-soaring, greasy follicles streaming around you; Lowfive are momentarily gods upon the stage, deities of the axe who will bless us with their unsuppressed sexuality in tone.
So where does it go wrong? In fairness, it's more than a little hard to pinpoint. A certain turning-point is in the rather obscure cover of 'Southern Girls', previously of Cheap Trick. The jumpy, danceable rhythms are really rather buoyant, but just come as an unpleasant surprise - the equivalent of a joke in the middle of a traumatic break-up, or a smile on Thom Yorke's face. Disorientated, we stumble upon an obligatory falsetto smoocher that is 'Lowlife', a saccharine non-entity of a song without emotion or energy, failing to compensate for either with slow harmonics or screeching vocals.
Eager to prove themselves towards the end, 'Sunk''s balladering is sublime, the occasional hoarse falsetto truly heart-rending. This is what 'Lowlife' could have been, had it not been treated to the whole production aesthetic and churned out as a power-ballad worthy of a 'Spiderman' movie. Indeed, it is when Lowfive turn to the security of nu-metal success that the energy disappears, but thankfully the genre is not frequented all-too often (yet often enough to bring a fatality to the chorus of 'Take Me Down' that could belong to Linkin Park).
But upon the LP's title: there is no emergency disaster in guitar music. Can you remember a time at which the six-string was in safer hands? And with innovation and inspiration currently tied down and seemingly satisfied by others, the only niche available is in pure energy. Unfortunately yet more bands, in the guise of The Blueskins and their kin, have already taken the spot. Lowfive sum the problem up all-too-readily themselves. 'Too much of nothing leaves you wanting some more.' This album doesn't quite cut the grade in the face of its competition. Still, this is a healthy collection of self-penned rockers, and the début hasn't always been the place to show your true worth... here's to praying that gruelling, future tours and releases can build upon these more than reliable foundations.
Artists in this article: Lowfive
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