THE 9S’ ‘Tales from the Black Freighter’ is, unsurprisingly, a “nautical” themed album, completed with colourful track titles like ‘Rise of the Kraken’ and ‘Oceans of Asphalt’ hammering the non-too subtle point home. Still, one of the best MAD CADDIES albums was called ‘Rock The Plank’, so we’ll let it fly.
Opening track ‘Imperfections’ isn’t the most original track in the world – the composition works fine and everything that should be there is there, but it just seems to be missing that magical ingredient ‘X’ to spice it up a little; it’s a listenable track but nothing special. ‘A Whole World of Opportunity’, on the other hand, shows far more promise with its infectious chorus and impressive riff work.
Throughout the rest of the album it seems that the strength vocally is in the deeper, punchier vocals than the higher, more delicately delivered parts of the album, and it feels a little inconsistent because of it.
THE 9S are a band set in their ways style-wise, and they don’t care to deviate much from the blueprints they’ve laid down. The guitar work is excellent (even if a little too reminiscent of dodgy 80s hair metal in places) and there’s catchy choruses galore, but after a few tracks it’s a little tiresome – the songs tend to follow a predictable form and style. ‘Tales from the Black Freighter’ is not a bad offering at all, just don’t expect to have your mind blown.
CHERI FAULKNER