Member:
Windhawk
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by Windhawk)
Date:
7/19/2008
Format:
CD (Album)
(originally written for www.prog4you.com)
The Vicious Martinis is a US band based in Washington DC, and Classic is their debut album. At first self-released in 2006, the album was re-released in 2007 after the band signed to Gotham Records.
Musically, the Martinis have a sound quite similar to The Manic Street Preachers; mellow but melodic hard rock; with short songs, memorable hooks and catchy choruses. Other possible influences on their music are U2 and Nirvana, and the choruses here do have a hair metal feel to them at times as well.
The guitar is the central instrument in the sound here, at times there will be layers of guitar in the songs here with acoustic guitar underscoring electric guitar riffs and melodic overlays added on top of that. The vocals are another important aspect in the sound of this group, and due to the songs being as short as they are, vocal delivery is very important for the overall feel of the song. Thankfully the vocals are good and suit this type of music rather nicely - although the vocalist does sound a bit too like Kurt Cobain at times.
The songs here are mostly good as well. Writing short songs means that although many are repetitive in style and structure, the song ends before this aspect makes itself noticeable. On a few tracks the band runs out of verses to sing to fast though, which results in endless repetitions of the chorus. But apart from those few tracks the songs here are really strong.
If you like the mellow and melodic side of hard rock this is a release worth checking out; as this is one of the better CDs with this type of music I've heard in a while now.
My rating: 74/100
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