Review: Alpha Male Tea Party - Droids (Superstar Destroyer Records)

With a name like Alpha Male Tea Party, you tend to assume a bit of madness in the music they make. Oh boy, do they like madness. Coming right out of the gate tweaking and thrashing like a wild bull, Droids is a bombastic mass of frantic riffs, blasting bass and stuttering drums. Sounding like At The Drive-In during a sugar rush, AMTP’s songs all hold a sense of delirious joy in the chaos being created. With song names like ‘You Eat Houmous; Of Course You Listen To Genesis’ it’s pretty hard to not smile when you can hear how much fun the band is having.

Droids is an attempt by the band to put to music their frustrations with the drudgery of monotonous offices, faceless corporations and the 9 to 5. Yet when you have songs titled as 'I Haven't Had A Lunch Break Since Windows Vista Came Out', you get the sense that maybe they aren’t trying to send much of a message. Instead, using that pent-up energy to smash some guitars and let loose.

Droids is an album of joyful noise, yet when it decides to slow the pace, the outcome is breathtaking. ‘Your Happiness Was Stored On A Hard Drive And Is Now Corrupt’ transforms from a slow building ballad into an immense wall of shimmering noise and gives the album a new spur of life. The jerky math-rock riffs are enjoyable, but it’s the combination of this chaos with those moments of sheer bliss that bring depth and richness to the mix. Underneath all the explosive noise there’s a method in the madness, a beauty just waiting to be unearthed.

Words: Alex Adams

Review: F.O.E.S - Ophir EP (Self-Released)

Liverpool's F.O.E.S have an excellent pedigree – drawn from bands like ConnectingFlight, In Casino Out and Always the Quiet Ones, among others, this new project, while projecting post-hardcore sensibilities live, takes a more atmospheric tack on record.

There are still the hints to bands such as At The Drive-In and Yourcodenameis:milo that were introduced with their first single 'Ruin Lies in the Bow & the Sword', but writ large on Ophir are the post-rock inflections of Oceansize and Aerogramme. 'The Writing On The Wall' and 'The Four Of Oxblood' alternate between a sharp dynamic shift from loud modern rock in the vein of shouty, jaggy early Biffy Clyro to almost a mainstream radio-friendly alt rock touch with earnest, self-assured vocals. When the band cuts loose during a middle eight or an outro, the effect is infectious. James Lorenzo's drum parts always claw the most they can out of every situation, and the quality of musicianship consistently shines.

Single 'Ningyo' starts off as a more meditative post-rock-lite ballad before exploding from the speakers when the chorus kicks in. Again, the rhythm section is tasked with keeping the energy levels up while the guitar heads off into more angular territory, but the effect is thrilling nonetheless. 'The First Rook To Flee As The Thunder Rolls In' combines all their competing sensibilities in a slow burning track that builds to a passage counterpointing screaming vocals with quieter, melodic guitars, before finally breaking loose and crashing to earth with an ending that really does deserve the 'epic' epithet.

With such a fully-formed release only running to EP length, the prospect of a full F.O.E.S album is an exciting one indeed.

Words: Alex Lynham