The term nostalgia get's thrown around a fair amount these days, be it in music or film...a great one is modern-nostalgia. It sounds ridiculous but it can somewhat appropriately sum-up a trend that happened not too long ago, nu-metal for instance is the perfect example...early 2000's, but, what is considered nostalgic? Well...anything from the 80's seems to do the trick lately, everything from sound to image...generally the 80's seems cool enough to be nostalgic, or retro, that's another one...go back further than that and you're evaluating vinyl on the Antiques Roadshow, entering classic territory...but there's something missing here...the 90's. What's wrong with the 90's? You had THE SPICE GIRLS! Girl power! Ok that's a bad example...how about grunge? The whole grunge movement housed some of the most influential artists in modern rock and metal...from SOUNDGARDEN to PEARL JAM...they changed the way we listened to alternative music...and that influence still affects bands today but for some reason, it's not nostalgic enough? Let me introduce CHASE THE DAY. The London based quartet have been around since 2012 and have just dropped their debut album; "TABULA RASA" hoping to change all of that....let them remind us all about the decade we apparently forgot...
We kick off with "Pariah" and it's a ballsy, riff-heavy affair, there are dark blues tones to it's overall sound, musically finding itself somewhere between the aforementioned Soundgarden, plus offering elements of STONE TEMPLE PILOTS here too, especially within the vocal performance, you can hear Scott Weiland throughout the chorus as if he is being channelled posthumously through the track. This can also be said for "Chase The Day"...which has a very VELVET REVOLVER chorus; it's a strong start with the point clearly made.
"Forget Your Name" is more of a toned down offering, it's more of a straight up rock 'n' roll song but, with an almost jovial feel to it. There's a slight hint of punk sprinkled here and there and really it's quite far from any sort of connection to grunge, it's short but it's a decent track. Speaking of short; "Rats In My Cellar"...48 seconds of...what exactly? As interludes go, it's equal parts trippy and pointless, doing the album no favours whatsoever being there. LUCKILY, "Seed" saves face with it's soft yet, pained delivery. The typically true to heart ballad you'd expect to really feel from a JEFF BUCKLEY record and it restores more than enough credibility here. "Just The Same" is another soft song funnily enough but, purely acoustic and doesn't grab you like the previous track
We then finish the album on a rather strong note, with "Honey Trap", an album highlight, being full of life and rocking energy, this is all about the guitars and it really lifts the spirits of the album, while "Spider Jerusalem" and "Dig" round everything up nicely. So...what can be said about CTD? Well first of all, Tabula Rasa is from a Latin term, meaning clean slate...and I guess it's appropriate as, very few if any artists are tapping into this era of music right now, so in essence they are free to play around with these influences without being part of a scene or jumping on some bandwagon. Is it enough to kick start a grunge revival? No. Sure they dabble in some of the influences mentioned above, but there's no "Interstate Love Song" here...it's a solid album but how they grow from here is what's exciting. That's the day I'll chase... [6]
We kick off with "Pariah" and it's a ballsy, riff-heavy affair, there are dark blues tones to it's overall sound, musically finding itself somewhere between the aforementioned Soundgarden, plus offering elements of STONE TEMPLE PILOTS here too, especially within the vocal performance, you can hear Scott Weiland throughout the chorus as if he is being channelled posthumously through the track. This can also be said for "Chase The Day"...which has a very VELVET REVOLVER chorus; it's a strong start with the point clearly made.
"Forget Your Name" is more of a toned down offering, it's more of a straight up rock 'n' roll song but, with an almost jovial feel to it. There's a slight hint of punk sprinkled here and there and really it's quite far from any sort of connection to grunge, it's short but it's a decent track. Speaking of short; "Rats In My Cellar"...48 seconds of...what exactly? As interludes go, it's equal parts trippy and pointless, doing the album no favours whatsoever being there. LUCKILY, "Seed" saves face with it's soft yet, pained delivery. The typically true to heart ballad you'd expect to really feel from a JEFF BUCKLEY record and it restores more than enough credibility here. "Just The Same" is another soft song funnily enough but, purely acoustic and doesn't grab you like the previous track
We then finish the album on a rather strong note, with "Honey Trap", an album highlight, being full of life and rocking energy, this is all about the guitars and it really lifts the spirits of the album, while "Spider Jerusalem" and "Dig" round everything up nicely. So...what can be said about CTD? Well first of all, Tabula Rasa is from a Latin term, meaning clean slate...and I guess it's appropriate as, very few if any artists are tapping into this era of music right now, so in essence they are free to play around with these influences without being part of a scene or jumping on some bandwagon. Is it enough to kick start a grunge revival? No. Sure they dabble in some of the influences mentioned above, but there's no "Interstate Love Song" here...it's a solid album but how they grow from here is what's exciting. That's the day I'll chase... [6]
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