Outcry Collctive has managed to generate quite a buzz over the last year and it wouldn’t be wrong to say ‘Articles’ is highly anticipated. Bands, labels and their press teams are getting good at whipping up the press nowadays – it’s rare for a band to come along and sweep a nation off their feet unexpectedly as Gallows did with their first album. But is ‘Articles’ good enough to be worthy of the buzz and the mini-hype?
Kind of.
Yep, always one to sit on the fence, at times I think ‘Articles’ is a blinder. It’s heavy, hard and passionate and there are some really great songs. But then at others I can’t help but think I’ve been sucked in by the hype and this record isn’t as good as I would like it to be. It’s a dirty album; a record that sounds like it was mixed in whiskey before coming out the other end. And when it works, it works. ‘Out of my System’ is a great opener and there are other songs that sound top too. But I’m left a little unfulfilled by the end – judging by most of the reviews I’ve seen I’m in the minority. This is a good record, but, for me, it’s not a great one. Sometimes the downside of the hype machine is that you raise expectations that bit too far.