Grunge is back with a BANG! For years it was left to be a distant memory, something that happened in a past decade, a genre of music with has had it's day and many are still recovering from it. Die hardened rockers who simply can't let go of music which really rocked! Fear not Grunge is back and how!! Wholly Fuck!! A new chapter of a book, which is an irresitble read has been written by a band that has exploded into and onto our society! The saviours of Grunge, the new heroes, the band of today!!! NINE BLACK ALPS!!!!!
This four piece from Manchester have caused a stir in the music business with their debut album Everything Is. Short, sharp, punchy three minute songs which have a hugh feel of grunge about them. Many have likened NBA to The Pixies and more evidently Nirvana. Grunge has been a term which has laid dormant for many a year, in Britain Grunge has rarely surface, though that is all about to Change. Having Seen NBA live I can personally vouch for them. They where then on tour supporting The Kaiser Chiefs, the venue was the Astoria, Tottenham Court Road. The set was as energetic as Ive every seen, lively, raw, agressive, powerful, energetic, they kicked, screamed and fought there way through there songs, making your ears bleed and your brain ache! A band so full of promise and intrigued that it's hard not to what to jump about like a raving luny!
Many of the songs on the album, and in fact the album it's self, have been compare to Nirvana's debut album Bleach. The first song is Get Your Guns ( as before this album is littered with reference's to a certain grunge band from Seattle ), a solid, fiery inferno of a track - brandish you gun, motherfucker!! (here's the first and most obvious Nirvana reference!) The next track was their debut single and the one I really like the most Cosmopolitan. The lyrics here are riddled by references of Cobain's wishes of suicide in the last months/years of his life. " You spend the night/I'll take my life/We'll close are eyes/We'll be dead by sunrise ". Depressing as fuck!! A soul which is internally tormented and forever in angst! No way out expect taking the ultimate decision! From here the Alps plunge head long into Not Everyone. " Not Everyone deserves a song/Not everyone is far too long/Not everyone can turn you on! " The song (as so many) comes alive with the Voice of Sam Forrest, rasping, scratchy, gravelly tones which rip apart the lyrics and force them down you throat and through your airwaves until you become unconscious! Unsatisfied is probably the one song on the album which is completely non-nirvana related! Strong guitar riffs pour through this track like water growing into a massive tidal wave, which is teetering on the edge of crashing onto the side of cliff! Headlights has a slightly lighter, calmer feel to. Easier on the ear, just about! The most frantic and certainly punchiest song on the album is Ironside a true three minute, three chord, sharp, short poke in the eye which is one of many atributes to grab your attention . Latest single Shot Down, starts with a bang and never lets you get your bearings and gives you a chance to catch your breath. Full on rock with attitude, very nice! Again guns are mentioned in the track - Nirvana reference #122? (maybe)! Just Friends is an expectedly thrilling love song. A track which has a clammy, closed in feel to it, this on the back of a power driven melody that is as romantic and dancie as it is bitey and nasty! The Alps also venture into acoustic mode on this album, most notably on tracks Behind Your Eyes and Intermission. You get to see a side of the band that singer Forrest would rather hide away and keep locked behind a massively sturdy oak door!
This album is full of songs which scream at your soul, tear away any innocence you may have and will have you fired up and ready to rumble in short space of time. NBA have the ability to get inside your brain, with the minimal of fuss, attached a bomb to your neurons, get the fuck out before the explosion! They will leave an indefinite imprint in your physche, a scar which will be there for eternity! The music of Nine Black Alps should always be played at window shattering volume, otherwise it simply doesn't do it justice! Buy this album!!!!!
Nine Black Alps play the Reading Festival on Sat 27th August! I can't wait to see them again! it's gonna be a fucking riot!!!
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