Elvis Jackson: Against the Gravity
Elvis Jackson: Against the Gravity
Friday, 26, Mar 2010 08:19
Antstreet Records, out March 29th.
What's it all about?
This release signals an attack on British shores by Slovenia's biggest rock band - one that is happy to sing in English, too. It's been produced by Billy Gould of Faith No More (the man behind the bass of Epic and We Care a Lot. Yeah, him), mixed by Rich Veltrop - who's worked with Rage Against the Machine, Slayer and the Red Hot Chili Peppers - oh, and mastered by John Cuniberti. He's the bloke who did the business for Tracy Chapman, Dead Kennedys and Aerosmith. Crikey.
It's focused on elements of all kinds of music genres, including ska, reggae, fast punk and metal. Quite varied, then.
Who's it by?
After travelling the world and playing over 600 gigs, the UK is now in Elvis Jackson's sights. Claiming an MTV Europe Music Award nomination in 2009, it's hardly surprising that they want to build on their newly-found fame. They've travelled as an opening act for Faith No More, NOFX, The Offspring and The Vandals, so they're getting exposure. They've also been compared to Pennywise and Rancid, so they're building a little bit of hype.
As an example...
"I can see flowers growing up from the snow/Today my feeling is far from the low/I'm having a great time in the prime of a lifetime/I can see colours everywhere I turn around." - This Time
So is it any good?
Ever played Crazy Taxi? This album opens up with a song from there, essentially; at least, title track Against the Gravity certainly sounds like one. The aforementioned game's soundtrack was largely made up of songs from the Offspring and Bad Religion, and there's certainly an element of that in Elvis Jackson's work from the first second, though it's not quite the foot-stomping "YA YA YA YA YA!" of All I Want by The Offspring, which opened the Sega racer without fail.
Still, you can see from the outset that these guys are clearly perfectly matched with the bands they tour with; then again, you'll wonder if there's a little too much influence from them.
Tracks including the sub-minute A Glass of Tequila and follow-up The Burned Out Flame harness the power of frantic, cymbal-heavy drums and pentatonic scale-style riffs which are, for the most part, excellent.
Despite this, the tunes could be from any one of the late-90s punk bands from America. Is this a bad or a good thing? A bit of both; it sacrifices originality for quality, so it's a double-edged sword.
Nonetheless, there's way more on offer from these guys. A lot of the album is made up of ska and reggae-infused beats that force you into moonstomp mode; fast-paced ska comes from tunes like Boyz and Girlz, while more introspective songs like Dry Your Tears sound like the more laid back songs from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. This is most certainly a compliment.
It's still hard to shake comparing these guys to someone else, though.
That said, a lot of these tunes would happily drop into certain music and gaming communities as a result; it doesn't detract from them being enjoyable. As a Rock Band drum freak, I personally reckon the inclusion of these Slovenian gents would boost them a lot; their songs would be cracking to pretend to play.
One thing that must be said of this album is that the production quality is fantastic. Punk bands, when producing full releases, sometimes sound like they're practising to an empty room, bringing an echo chamber-style sound. Here, it's consistently crisp and you hear absolutely everything you want to, should you single out bass, drums, guitars or vocals. It's just bloody brilliant.
Top marks for technical skill, memorable songs and energy; crosses against their name for a lack of originality and a samey sound among certain tracks. If you like their predecessors in the happy ska, easy punk demographic, buy away, because you won't be disappointed.
7.5/10
Matt Gardner