The first thing you notice about Dummy Run is how similar they are to ‘Five Knuckle’, everything from growling vocals, distinct breakdowns and dashes of ska thrown into a song are immediately recognisable from the Household Name band. Fortunately this isn’t necessarily a bad thing and the three piece just about pull it off with enough tenacity to shove themselves into the limelight of the distinct style they portray. The band is no stranger to the scene either, having played over 150 shows and been together as a trio for a lengthy five years.
‘No Reason Why’ is an average opener, merely paving the way for the superior ‘Badlands’ that features some cracking pace changes amongst the fiery energy displayed. ‘Fallen Heroes’ is a lot more laid back in its style as it slowly builds to a rousing finale with the vocals of frontman Rich standing out as he shows his range of key. ‘Yesterdays Calling’ and ‘No Way Home’ prove minor disappointments, as for the whole, neither fail to deliver what we may of come to expect with the obvious potential the band show. ‘Kids’ stinks of the likes of Adequate 7 and Five Knuckle and I fucking love it with the vocal sparring of Rich and bassist Damian working extremely well as it all moves along at a tidy pace with the energy taken up another notch.
To say I wasn’t expecting the track ‘Runaway’ would be an understatement. The song is tight and energetic, but to say it sounds as if the band got Tim Armstrong of Rancid fame, as a guest would be aptly putting it as the vocals veer somewhat from what we have listened to previously. Whether this was tried for, I do not know, but ‘Stars in your Eyes‘ may come a knocking if they hear this track. The run of form is ended abruptly with the slack ‘Riot in the Alley’ which sounds like a track rejected from most street punk bands while penultimate track ‘Strength in Numbers’ doesn’t really fare any better except for a couple of interesting bridge sections. It ends with ‘New Kind of Energy’, a thumping end to a very hit and miss effort.
There is no doubt that ‘Dummy Run’ have a certain degree of talent, it is the problem of harnessing that talent and curbing it in the right places which needs to be sorted out. Certain tracks are extremely impressive, while others simply fade away and make you reach for the skip button. If you are fans of the aforementioned Household Name bands, you may want to check this out, otherwise it may not hold a lot for you.
www.dummyrun.co.uk
Jay