Twenty seven minutes of the most fantastic melodic punk-rock that I've heard in 2005 - that I've heard in ages, in fact. How I found this band (or how this band found me) is well documented on the Dead Earnest website - as is much more about them - so let me tell you what they are all about. From Sheffield, they're a quartet of bass, drums and guitar plus lead female vocalist, and they've got the lot - image, energy, song-writing and sheer addictive listening enjoyment. The drummer on this CD has since been changed so that their live concerts are now even more on fire than this album suggests, and this is hot!!
So, we have 8 songs - all of them delivered by vocalist Mel who's got this wonderfully mid-range vocal that immediately hooks you in while the band play it almost Ramones-style only not as fast - in fact the opener, 'Ready 2GO' bears more than a passing similarity with the Ramone brothers, as the bass thunder, the drums crunch, the guitar riffs away and Mel's solo and multi-tracked vocal is pure punk rock 'n' roll as the track just shoots into your head and refuses to et go for hours after. But this is only the start - as we fly into the fantastically catchy, driving riffing and melodies that is 'Fairy Punk Princess', here Mel's vocal attaining a kind of Lene Lovich-meets-The Darling Buds kind of quality, with a song that is pure addiction, a chorus that's catchier than the common cold, as the energy of it all takes you leaping around the room like a dervish on heat. Then, if you think things couldn't get any better, along comes 'Bellis Coldwine' (don't ask!!) and another rocking and riffing slice of pop-punk erupts into life as it all races along with Mel delivering a streaming sea of lyrics with energy and an almost sultry but urgent punk-rock approach, as another chorus has you opening all the windows, turning the volume right up and letting the whole street hear the adrenaline-racing experience that you are having right now - just stunning!!
'Psychic Man' revolves around a slightly slower, chunkier set of rhythms, with twists and turns along the way and a truly anthemic chorus that is just to die for as the band continue to blaze and Mel's deep-ish (for a female) vocal continues to endear itself to you in shedloads. 'Crisis Theory' is wild as it lurches into life, alternating between staccato riffing and rocking, and driving choruses, with brief bursts of upfront bass and guitar as the punk-power continues unabated on yet another song that is just so addictive, it almost defies belief at how good they do it all.
Three more songs of equal excellence and substantial yet commercial punk appeal follow, ending in the driving anthem that is the wonderful pop-punk of 'Tormented Trevor', yet another absolute killer song to add to the trio at the beginning.
I tell you how good this band are - I saw them live three times in two weeks - never done that for a band before - and they were just stunning live. In this area of music, the best thing around today, they must surely have a huge future in front of them - they write catchy songs, they've got it where it counts in concert and they are on fire and ready 2go - and you owe it to yourself to catch this band and this CD.