Odd name. An odd band as well, going well on seven years in the music-making business, the six-piece has seen a lot of it already: big festivals (Pinkpop, Lowlands, Ozzfest), opening in huge venues for bands like Machine Head, Rammstein, Disturbed, Downset, Therapy?, and touring their ass of in their native Holland. The other side, they also know: botched tours, failing experiments, playing for two-headed crowds, missed opportunities, and being dragged along in a little hype called nu-metal.
They didn't like that then. It's even worse now, but that's what they all say, isn't it?
After two critically-acclaimed releases (Sharp Instead, 2000, and Tsumi, 2002), their third album Palm Bridge Rd. is set to once and for all silence all the naysayers: this band is here to stay. To get to this release, the band has singlehandedly changed its fate by building their own studio, producing, recording and shaping the album themselves, and saying its goodbyes to their former label Seamiew Records to put their precious egg in PIAS's basket for the Benelux. It's all about survival for the boys, and they'll do anything to keep going.
The music they make can be pigeonholed easily: it's good. From harder-edged songs to emotionally-driven and melodic tracks to powerful yet subtle songs that stick in your head; it's all there, and with lyrics that definitely shy away from the teen angst angle, there's even a point to it all. Don't think that because there's a little bit of everything that it's disjointed: the album's twelve tracks, while each being craftfully composed and seperate entities, have a remarkable cohesion and are best enjoyed in total.
Bringing up the old 'sum of its parts' adage here is cheesy, but dammit, it's true.
If you like the album, then you might want to invest in the opportunity to see the band live, because no matter how well they've captured their spirit on tape, it's no match for undergoing the full force of the band when they're on stage. In the past they've been known to blow headliners off-stage when opening, and with a fresh hunger for on-stage assault, the band is more than ready.
Give them a finger, and they'll try to chew off your arm. Come on. Just trying to survive, you know.
