(Fueled By Ramen FBR043)

From: Jyoti Mishra

Newsgroups: uk.music.alternative
Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 17:04:14 +0100

Hmmm… what label do I hang on this CD? BM are Aussies, this, their debut album, is released on Fueled By Ramen and you can find out more about them here

Reading the bio there, this album was produced by,

“J. Robbins, who recorded their forthcoming debut album “The Apology Wars” at Inner Ear Studios in Washington D.C. “

Didn’t he do Promise Ring? Inner Ear? Ahhh… I could probably get away with calling BM emo. After all, they’ve just done a tour with Jimmy Eat World..

But labels always lie. This album does emorock, yuup, but it also jangles in parts and, truthfully, it’d be more accurate to call BM an indie band. Some of the songs make me feel that there’s an 80s-indie guitar dynamic behind the modern sheen. I don’t exactly know why but BM also remind me of New Day Rising-period Husker Du. Perhaps it’s the singer’s voice, which has a Mouldy hoarseness at times.

But it’s also a very poppy, accessible record. Probably the most singalong track is ‘Making The Nouveau Riche’ which gets you going before, unforgivably, fading out too quickly. Fadeouts – bah!

Then you have a track like ‘Up Against The Fault’ which, if it was less heavy, could almost be a Lloyd Cole song. It’s *very* catchy in that kind of riff-driven way, completed with a neat false ending into big chorus. There’s a lot of Chills-like dyanmics in these songs.

This is a rock album. *Not* a nu-metal album – it’s too complex for that. And too honest: no big swearalong choruses to annoy your parents with here. But you do get a lot of emotion. It doesn’t go down that Vedder-esque whingeing route Staind are taking because the mourning is balanced by anger.

Buy this album if you still secretly treasure Smiths-y melancholy and jangly guitars. Don’t buy this album if you’re looking for heavy, heavy guitar bashing and shouting.