The Blackout - TheBlackout!TheBlackout!TheBla ckout! [Mini album]

Newie from Welsh 6 piece

October 19, 2006, 04:49 PM

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Oh where do I begin? I swear if these guys get signed to a major label and force-fed to me through the media for the next year, there’s going to be bodies everywhere. This 6 track EP is the latest release from Merthyr Tydfil’s The Blackout and while it packs a superficial kind of rock punch that’ll speed up the pulses of your average 14-year old metaller, it’s pretty hard to imagine any listener being genuinely blown away by this mostly derivative, throwaway mush. I’m certain that about 5 years ago these guys listened to nu-metal and had they formed a band we’d be seeing a spiky-haired DJ on the decks amongst their ranks. I’m also absolutely sure these guys don’t own a single Led Zeppelin record (or any other rock and roll album of beauty, soul and conviction) between them, such is the vacuous nature of their chosen emo-rock/metal genre and the obvious trend-driven nature of this band.

The only real ‘highlight’ here is token ballad ‘It’s High Tide Baby’ which begins in melodic, uplifting style, uncomplicated by screams or cheese-metal guitar lines. It’s all pleasant enough but trite lyrics like “I apologise for the summertime” (sung by Lostprophet’s Ian Watkins) soon cause this to descend into the kind of soft rock schmaltz that makes Hoobastank’s ‘The Reason’ look like Slayer. It’s this predictability and the fact this EP is so cliché-ridden that makes it hard to take seriously. Sure, the songs push all the right buttons: chugga ‘Maiden style lead guitar licks, de rigeur blast-beat sections and cheap double-kick breaks, token ‘gang’ vocals showing they’re down with the hardcore kids and the mandatory cookie monster growl vs. Bon Jovi croon on the vocals that shows they’re both metal AND sensitive to boot. But all of these things have been done thousands of times before by a thousand other sound-a-like bands. Lead track ‘I’m a riot? You’re a f**king riot!’ (oh yeah, I forgot about the meaningless, ‘in joke’ song titles) contains a fair amount of swagger and, in places, some tasty sleazy riffs but, like many of The Blackout’s UK counterparts (Hondo MacLean, Bring Me The Horizon), there’s a self-satisfied smirk behind it all that rubs me up the wrong way, as if they’re consciously taking the p**s by even playing this type of music. Likewise, the charmingly titled ‘You and Your Friends vs. Me and the Revolution’ is so generic of the ‘metal-core’ genre it makes Atreyu look like The Mars Volta.

The Blackout are clearly well connected and no doubt moving places fast, but they’d do well to remember that most music fans above the age of 14 would never admit in public to liking this garbage. They’d also do well to remember they represent the last dying fart of the whole co-opted and cashed in ‘emo’ look/sound/style and that the boat to the next fad trend is leaving shore sooner than they realise. Unfortunately for the rest of us, there’s probably just enough time before the boat leaves for these wannabe-American numbskulls to follow in the footsteps of the ’Prophets and the ‘Friend and do the rounds with their tedious schtick. If you’re after a cheap thrill or are the sort of person that will visit The Blackout’s myspace page, click on the photos and then comment “Oohh! Hotties!”, then please check this out. Otherwise, you can probably guess EXACTLY what this sounds like already so I’d advise you stick to the originators and the big guns of the genre who do this stuff well and stay the f**k away from this.

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