Genres are a constantly changing. It seems like every week there’s a new pseudo-math-rock-hipster-beat-poet-dynamic-pop band kicking around throwing yet another adjective into the hyphenated melting pot. It’s gotten to the stage where you aren’t cool unless you think you’re doing something original and can’t fit your genre title into your average tweet.
Alpha Male Tea Party, on the other hand, have decided to go with the term ‘smash-rock’, a nice little phrase which, conveniently enough, sums up their gleeful, bouncy form of sonic assault perfectly. Their debut self-titled full length plays like something to listen to while playing football after a ten-pint knees up, both filled with adrenaline and drenched in a happy-go-lucky swagger that gives fewer fucks than a room full of nuns.
If you can get over their unfortunate name (described in wonderfully graphic detail by our esteemed colleagues over at Beardrock) you’ll soon discover that these guys rock seriously hard. They have created an album filled with twists and turns that rush from accessible pogo-with-a-smile niceness to pulverising beat-downs at the drop of a hat.
This three-piece powerhouse’s debut is packed to the gills, with a plethora of different influences being showcased. Tracks like textbook math-rock opener ‘Baker’s Dozen’ and the brilliantly named ‘Griff Rees Homes’ show us these boys know their instrumental alumni, while the truly epic riffage (see the Pelican-esque ‘My Ship is Shipshaped’) pays homage to the harder, heavier end of the spectrum. What vocals there are tend to be sparse but well used, providing texture as well as something for the masses to shout along to. The highlight vocally is the infectious ‘Depressingly Shit Lunchtime Sandwich’, which I’d be happy to declare from the rooftops as one of my favourite tracks so far this year.
The album closer is a real gem, a perfect reverie after the previous 45 minutes of madness, this reviewer’s only issue being that it ends far too abruptly (if this was live I’d be the omnipresent wasted guy screaming ‘one more tune!’) and I can’t help but wonder what epicness was in store if the song had continued on its journey.
Overall, there’s a bit of groove, a lot of time shifts and a huge dollop of energy from a band that clearly mean business. This is a record that will make you want to leap around the streets wondering why the hell everyone else isn’t having as much fun (and if they heard this, they probably would be).
NB: No hyphens were harmed in the writing of this review.
Released April 21 2012 through Bandcamp
Posted by Eoin Boylan
