About a hundred years ago, well maybe not that long, a band named Kerbdog came roaring out of Ireland. Their gloriously underrated second album was named ‘on the turn’ and the genius of it was the juxtaposition of frequently blistering guitars with the sort of hefty pop sensibility that had sent the Foo Fighters stratospheric, only the album was ignored and the band rather ignominiously shed members and a few years later returned as the quieter (and more or less equally ignored) Wilt. Along with Kerbdog, the desire of bands to explore the fertile grounds of pop-inflected heavy rock seemingly died and there have been few bands with the wit to pick up on it since, or at least those that have tried have often weighted one above the other lacking either the grit or hooks to make a good go of it, Feeder and The Foo Fighters being, perhaps, the most notable exceptions. However, now there is a new contender in the form of Slide on Venus whose album, ‘topless’ arrives to the sound of a chunky riff being kicked out only to be offset against the sort of infectious pop melodies that stick irritatingly in the brain for months to come.
So, ‘topless’, then is something of a throwback to the nineties, although done with style, wit and class, and for the most part it is an excellent listen. First track, ‘topless’, is more or less the result of the Foo Fighters jamming on QOTSA covers (with Nick Oliveri helping out on vocals), with Alban De Luca’s clean vocals often shifting into an unholy screech just as things start to get too sugary and the ever-present barrage of Mathias Perles’ drums making sure things stay on the right side of thunderous. It’s really cool to hear a band pushing in this direction once more and, at its best, ‘Topless’ has much to offer the genre. Second track ‘ugly rainbow’ with its great riff and vocal harmonies (courtesy of bassist/backing vocalist Victor Male) cements the notion that Slide on Venus have truly mastered a format that seemed destined to languish forever in the hands of the terminally inept, and if ever a band deserved to reach the masses based on talent rather than hype it’s this one. ‘Glassy sea’ seas things slow down a tad with a neat, picked riff and awkward rhythms recalling Hundred Reasons, only without the annoying vocals.
‘4AM’ is, without a doubt, the song that has ‘single’ stamped all over it in large neon letters, with its simple beat, sing-along vocal and sentimental lyrical bent (driving fast in cars, dancing in clubs, sharing cigarettes in a park with friends etc.) all screaming for radio play in a manner not heard since Feeder decided that they had a brand new car that may, or may not, have been a Jaguar. Depending on how you feel about such things it’ll either be your favourite song on the album or the one you always skip, but in the context of it’s terrifying lurch into the atonal-riffing of ‘Celsius’ it works far better than as a standalone song. One of the hardest-rocking numbers, ‘Celsius’ is definitely a highlight, but equally cool is the drum-led ‘turned on girl, turned off boy’ with its falsetto vocals, punkish guitars and addictive chorus. Really rather different, at least initially, is the slowed-down ‘It’s a good place to get lost or be found’ with its opening trudge abruptly taking a turn for the Foo Fighters with a melody that sounds suspiciously similar to ‘DOA’ which is a shame because the opening showed far greater promise than the easy route eventually taken. It’s an enjoyable enough song, but you can’t help but feel they could have pushed themselves more given the quality of what’s on offer elsewhere.
Following the slight mis-step of the previous track, ‘greenfield land’ sees things back on course with a lazy beat and Radiohead-esque guitar line that showcases a more reflective side to the band’s oeuvre and which also contains the best harmonies of the album, rich and layered and perfectly delivered, it’s a highlight of the album. In contrast ‘Unicorn hunters’ is an up-tempo blast that is cool enough, yet somehow seems out of place until the heavier guitars of the chorus kick in and rescue it from the light-weight pastures it seems content to roam on the verse. ‘Like Eurydice’ sees the album winding to a close, a gentle riff leading to a power ballad that would sit comfortably amidst Feeder’s body of work and then we’re left with ‘thinking of my friends who went away’ which transpires to be a satisfyingly chunky blast rather than the ballad the title might imply.
Overall ‘Topless’ is an album that has much to recommend it, although there are a few reservations. For every excellent song here (‘topless’, ‘ugly rainbow’ ‘thinking of my friends who went away’) there is a rather more obvious track that belies the intelligence of the band and goes straight for established patterns grown tired by their overuse (‘4AM’, ‘it’s a good place to get lost or be found’). Overall, then, this is an album that plays well, has plenty of charm and invention but which is, perhaps, too long by a couple of songs. That slide on Venus have talent is without question, and there will be many who rejoice at the return of such sunny melodies and crunching riffs to the airwaves, but equally, for many a SonicAbuse reader the album may prove to be a touch on the light side. If you dig Feeder, Foo fighters or Hundred Reasons then this album will undoubtedly provide you with much entertainment – at its best it is powerful, well played and perfectly produced – but if those acts leave you cold you’ll find nothing here to change your mind. A good, if flawed release then, that just can’t quite relinquish the clichés that have plagued the Foo Fighters’ albums but which still has its own sense of cool and charm – definitely a band to watch as their next work has the potential to be a blinder.
Leave a Reply