Albums

Album Review: Battle

Album: Break The Banks
Label: Transgressive

Apparently the title for Battle’s debut offering comes from a freaky dream in which lead singer, Jason Bavanandan, narrowly escapes boarding a train made entirely of water. It’s a strange one, that’s for sure. Recorded essentially live it’s not without the odd duff note but this certainly gives it an honest quality. Instantly noticeable is the echoing guitar which stumbles over itself setting the atmosphere – very reminiscent of the sustained stringwork of Big Country and to some extent U2. It combines well with the crystal-clear vocal creating quite a forlorn ambience to the sound.

There are plenty of decent well-written songs on offer. The opening track, ‘The Longest Time’, is the most accessible with a neat catchy riff and an almost-blurted chorus combining to create something that yearns to be duplicated. The previous single release, ‘Demons’, despite some rather violent lyrics, has a punchy rhythm which ebbs and flows around a warping guitar. The album’s final track, ‘The Other Way’, is yet another highlight consisting of a driving chorus opposed by a twee verse and is slyly bookended with a background café conversation to drive home Bavanandan’s point. His vocal is eloquent, yet urgent, as he warns ‘Would I dare to break the banks or just look the other way?’ – a do-or-die decision within that strange dream of his. Unfortunately the core of the material is instantly forgettable, falling flat with overwrought lyrics and plodding beats. ‘Looking For Bullets’, ‘History’, and ‘Negotiation’ are fine examples of how to write popular indie soul whilst forgetting to include any memorable rhythms, vocals or riffs that etch themselves a place in your mind. Being a poor man’s Coldplay or Snow Patrol is not a pleasant sobriquet to be stuck with.

The individual thrills are, sadly, just brief moments in an otherwise uninspiring album. The filler tracks are simplistic, dawdling events with embittered vocals over tuneful, yet simplistic guitars and sluggish drums. There is a distinct lack of urgency running throughout and despite all the clever vocals the majority of the album sinks below the promise that is so clearly on display.

For fans of: Coldplay, Snow Patrol, The Cure
Band links = Battle

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Tags: album, cd, review, battle, break the banks, cure, pop, music, snow patrol

Review commissioned by Music-Zine.

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