Someone who truly fascinates me once said “Originality is so boring and safe†(and if you know who it is, email me and I’ll send you this CD, maybe with a couple more…) and I can certainly see where he’s coming from. On the one hand you have bands who do not really change their sound from song to song, album to album, decade to decade – Bad Religion as a prime example, note: this isn’t an insult at all – and there are some bands who choose to have a thoroughly schizophrenic sound that defies classification but has an undeniable stamp of authority on it – Lightyear‘s last album or Dillinger Escape Plan for two extreme examples – which runs through like a watermark. Then there are bands who try far too hard to appear this way, who chuck in whatever obscure and edgy riffs they can think of in order to try and get that ‘difficult’ tag, verging on musical genius (or so they think). Which kind are Candy Sniper? A definite mixture…but sadly, more the latter than the former.
There are bands like Biffy Clyro who can really pull off the kind of music that Candy Sniper are attempting with ease – punchy post-hardcore which veers from light to dark at the flick of a switch. Unfortunately, Candy Sniper seem to think that they’re some kind of pioneers in this field, with song names like ‘Kill Melody’ or the super-pretentious ‘Avant Garde Misdemeanour.’ But Ben, I hear you cry, you’re not mentioning the music! Oh but I have done. The point earlier about bands that try too hard? On the aforementioned ‘Kill Melody’ the appearance is that of a band trying their hardest to impress, with edgy guitar lines subtitling some suitably scream-laden vocals but the problem is you know exactly where each song is going. That’s the problem with attempting to be different – you run the risk of slipping directly into cliché and predictability.
‘Resit Youth’ spoils itself with not enough direction, needlessly changing pace every few bars and not finding enough time to form its own identity and feels like a Lego model of a song, made up from loads of different parts and a bit of Sellotape to cover the cracks. I think CS could have made a far better album if they had concentrated on the basics of songwriting instead of trying to create something that would make musos sit up and stroke their beards. The Biffy-esque sound is most evident on ‘Transformer Resistor’ and as such, ends up as the best track on the album with the urgency of the rhythm section adding some much-needed balls to a sometimes-insipid guitar that gets lost in the mix just when you want it to explode.
I think CS have made a huge effort to stand out with this album but every strange riff sounds like it has been constructed with the conscious aim of appearing different instead of letting something more natural come. The sheer disjointedness of ‘Connection At A Party’ is frustrating like you wouldn’t believe, totally turning the song into an art-wank mess. Most of the tracks on the album start promisingly but degenerate into something slightly resembling the box marked ‘Off Cuts From At The Drive-In And Biffy Clyro‘, such is the sense of cut and paste. A shame, because when this kind of music is done honestly and naturally it really can move mountains.
Ben