Rock 'n Roll Is Dead.
For years and years this phrase has been published, uttered, and generally run into the ground claiming that rock is on it's last breath. Well, that is bullshit. Rock is, and will forever be, alive. You just have to look for it at times. When one examines the situation of music today, it is dominated by the single. Country and "urban" (aka black) radio stations rule the airwaves with songs produced for no other reason than a quick buck. Trust me, in two years the "T-Pain" vocal effect thing will be long gone and looked back upon with a kind of "what the fuck was that?" feeling. But in the midst of all this, the niche known as "rock 'n roll" can still be located.
The Obits, a group made up of some true rock vets, have just released their debut album I Blame You and it screams rock. You get it all here. The standard blues progression, pounding drums (although this drummer will not go down in rock history), and great guitar play. The track "Two-headed Coin", for example, has one guitarist on a rockabilly vibe while the other rips out a power chord here and there. And it works. The foursome's two guitarists weave their riffs and rundowns around each other marvelously throughout the album.
However, the album as a whole does not fully gel as well as the two guitarists. The feeling of the album just has too much of a retro feel which I dislike for the most part. Lately, groups such as The Black Lips have capitalized on attempting to recapture the "sound" of the late 60s and for me it just doesn't work. And the Obits have tried to pull this off as well. I'm not asking for an overly polished sound but just one that doesn't try to sound underpolished.
Another noticeable aspect of this album was its use of the tambourine. It is all over the place on this thing. It reminded me of the old SNL skit in which Christopher Walken is begging for the cow bell. Instead of cow bell on I Blame You, however, we get the tambourine. I would say that this often overlooked gem of an instrument (anyone can play a fucking tambourine, problem is you can't do it looking cool) is prevalent on half of the album's tracks.
Overall, the album ultimately falls short of producing something worthwhile. The title track sums up this album perfectly: it offers some nice guitar work until eventually the track fizzles out and ends after a minute. And that's what the Obits have produced here, an album that just kind of starts, plays some cool guitar shit and ends.
(On a side note, I would pay money for these guys live for a bet they put on a nice high-energy show)
2.9/5.0
I need more cow bell.
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