The great thing about reviewing is, from time to time, you’ll witness growth…now, while all artists change and evolve from one album to the next (Well, I SAY all…AD/DC made a fortune on stagnation) nothing quite beats seeing a band in their formative years growing in sound, growing in style and more importantly, growing in confidence…back in 2014 in the early days of this blog’s existence, I reviewed a band by the name of DRIVEN in Fuel, Cardiff (I’ll never forget that conga line) and in the years since, I’ve witnessed them achieve so much in such a relatively short period of time. Having undergone a name change, and finding themselves signed to Spinefarm Records, IN SEARCH OF SUN (As they are now known) dropped a highly promising debut album by the name of “The World Is Yours” and grabbed a lot of people’s attention…now…in 2017 they deliver us the much anticipated follow up; “Virgin Funk Mother”…was the world truly theirs for the taking or were they ultimately searching for the sun at night? Let’s find out…
There’s no messing about with this record whatsoever as we open up with “Say It Like You See It” and we’re thrust into an infectious, groove-laden surge of riffs and funk-driven passion…the song writing, the musicianship, the delivery…it’s hard to imagine these were once just a couple of lads from London giving copies of their EP away for free just wanting to be heard, this is superb; this is anthemic…the sound here is positively huge and in ways it’s a blend of INCUBUS and YOUNG GUNS, a brilliant start this. “Bad Girl” follows immediately afterwards and while notably restrained compared to our opener it utilises a heavier, prog-fuelled guitar sound giving the track a more menacing tone as it maniacally reaches its more metal inspired crescendo…with the addition of MONUMENTS guitarist John Browne bringing a certain djent style, this is a lot darker.
Next up we have Ronseal…or at least it may as well be, as “Motherfunk” does exactly what it says on the motherfucking tin! Its super upbeat, super smooth and front-man Adam’s clean vocals are wonderful, he’s developed into such an equally charismatic and capable vocalist he really helps carry these songs effortlessly, while the guitar work here again from David, Rory and not forgetting bassist Faz, is top drawer; they’ve nailed it here again…funk has seldom felt so relevant in alternative rock music. “Never” ticks all of the same boxes with another bold chorus emphasising another impassioned vocal display, slower and emotionally deeper in tone with subtle power ballad qualities, this further highlights their song-writing capabilities…while “Mega Piranha”…well, it’s more metal in style but don’t worry about that, look up the film…it’s amazing…it’s no Sharktopus but it’s still amazing. Actually scrap this review lets go watch them both! I jest...there are a couple of weaker moments though, yet nothing that completely ruins the record…”Little Wolf” as an interlude is barely existent and while acting as a segue, it may as well have just been a lengthy track intro instead of being its own entity, it’s a little bit pointless, while closing track “Mon Amour” overstays it’s welcome. While a decent track for the most part, we hit the halfway mark and we slide into repetition, couple that with the rising level of distortion and feedback at the songs climax and it just becomes annoying rather than awe inspiring and it really, sadly closes proceedings on a dud note. That’s not to say however that this record is a failure by any means, not at all…the past couple of years has seen the guys really put the time and effort in and it’s clearly paid off, this is a totally different band to the wide-eyed aspiring metal heads I saw in Cardiff back in the day and they certainly aren’t looking back…in search of sun? This album is positively beaming…[8]
There’s no messing about with this record whatsoever as we open up with “Say It Like You See It” and we’re thrust into an infectious, groove-laden surge of riffs and funk-driven passion…the song writing, the musicianship, the delivery…it’s hard to imagine these were once just a couple of lads from London giving copies of their EP away for free just wanting to be heard, this is superb; this is anthemic…the sound here is positively huge and in ways it’s a blend of INCUBUS and YOUNG GUNS, a brilliant start this. “Bad Girl” follows immediately afterwards and while notably restrained compared to our opener it utilises a heavier, prog-fuelled guitar sound giving the track a more menacing tone as it maniacally reaches its more metal inspired crescendo…with the addition of MONUMENTS guitarist John Browne bringing a certain djent style, this is a lot darker.
Next up we have Ronseal…or at least it may as well be, as “Motherfunk” does exactly what it says on the motherfucking tin! Its super upbeat, super smooth and front-man Adam’s clean vocals are wonderful, he’s developed into such an equally charismatic and capable vocalist he really helps carry these songs effortlessly, while the guitar work here again from David, Rory and not forgetting bassist Faz, is top drawer; they’ve nailed it here again…funk has seldom felt so relevant in alternative rock music. “Never” ticks all of the same boxes with another bold chorus emphasising another impassioned vocal display, slower and emotionally deeper in tone with subtle power ballad qualities, this further highlights their song-writing capabilities…while “Mega Piranha”…well, it’s more metal in style but don’t worry about that, look up the film…it’s amazing…it’s no Sharktopus but it’s still amazing. Actually scrap this review lets go watch them both! I jest...there are a couple of weaker moments though, yet nothing that completely ruins the record…”Little Wolf” as an interlude is barely existent and while acting as a segue, it may as well have just been a lengthy track intro instead of being its own entity, it’s a little bit pointless, while closing track “Mon Amour” overstays it’s welcome. While a decent track for the most part, we hit the halfway mark and we slide into repetition, couple that with the rising level of distortion and feedback at the songs climax and it just becomes annoying rather than awe inspiring and it really, sadly closes proceedings on a dud note. That’s not to say however that this record is a failure by any means, not at all…the past couple of years has seen the guys really put the time and effort in and it’s clearly paid off, this is a totally different band to the wide-eyed aspiring metal heads I saw in Cardiff back in the day and they certainly aren’t looking back…in search of sun? This album is positively beaming…[8]
RSS Feed