Heathen Angel review
Rumble has had another review. That makes it 14 in total. This one is at Heathen Angel. It’s a bit ambivalent, but not entirely hostile and it’s similar to criticisms we’ve had from other people. We still managed to score 5/10!
The review itself is a bit hard to find as it’s all in frames and direct links won’t work, so here it is in its entirety:
The Beatles were great weren’t they!? Back in 1968, if George Martin had gotten his way the ‘White Album’ would have been stripped of some of its meandering structure, ‘Revolution Number 9′ anyone? The fact is that The Beatles only JUST got away with a sprawling album of conflicting styles and self indulgent jams, should be a lesson to all bands – 99% of the time you just can’t get do it.
Kent’s The Psychotic Reaction clearly haven’t studied musical history or they are very confident in their own abilities, as ‘Rumble’ their first album contains enough random filler to put most Hip-Hop acts to shame. It’s a bit of a disappointment really as in certain moments I often found myself saying, ‘hmmm that’s good’, or ‘Ahhh that sounds like x, I like that!’ However, this genuine talent is often hidden. ‘Godfrey’s Grave’ paints the band as the Home Counties Iron & Wine. Yet no sooner has this finished then the band has embarked on some 65 Days Of Static noise clash. Genres and styles are flirted with then kicked into touch faster than Bowie ever attempted and this leads to questioning something that is essential to any new band, its identity.
This identity is sometimes visible when the band produces something of a conventional song or at least part of one. The Sonic Youth inspired ‘ES-40’ or the crisis of mortality in ‘I’m Not Ready Yet’ with its existential lyrics “What if I die here? / All alone/ When I’m not ready yet”.
It’s definitely interesting and quite refreshing to listen to a band determined to avoid indie-rock clichés. Unfortunately sometimes these clichés have good catchy songs. Undoubtedly The Psychotic Reaction do, and they should be commended for not eschewing inventiveness but the fact is there is a substantial amount of annoying filler on ‘Rumble’ (especially the telephone calls). I’m sure the band don’t intend to identify themselves with The Beatles (what band would) but retrospectively maybe they should have heeded some of George Martin’s advice, ‘I think you ought to cut out some of these [songs], concentrate on the really good ones and have yourself a really super album’.