Simon Jay Catling

Whether the outside world is aware of it or not, “post rock” is suddenly a big thing. Ever since pioneers Mogwai disowned the term, the genre has expanded to incorporate a large range of styles, to the extent where the question of it being a genre anymore is a hotly debated one. A Word Like. Attack are a five piece group from Hampshire and upon to listening to this, their second EP, it appears that the harder edge of post rock has been grown from a seed, allowed to flower and then been fused with a very heavy, hardcore type of plant, to form a beast that occasionally focuses on excellence, but for the most ends up chasing its own tail.

Opening track The Last Man In Europe begins replete with 65 Days Of Static glitchy drums and chillingly isolated piano arpeggios that set the hairs on end, only for the group to fall somewhat flat on their face with the vocal interjection of the lead vocalist, who turns a potentially spine tingling epic into the kind of thrashcore perfected by the now defunct Bear vs. Shark; all well and good except the jarring gear change that heralds this is enough to make you wince. Second track Women Need Not Be Afraid Of Man Eating Sharks is far less schizophrenic- pulsating through a brain drumming, passionate couple of verses and chorus before stripping everything back and building up to a rousing wall of sound finish, in which the vocals are yelped and screamed like a man after Frank Carter’s heart. The midway point is reached with a title track that manages to excite the listener more in its 1 minute 49 second interlude than the rest of the EP as A Word Like.

Attack show that in terms of building up soaring peaks to heighten emotional and hard edged falls, they have a talent. Indeed it has to be said that the musicianship throughout the EP is good; tight percussion and bass allows a monolith of a guitar to let rip throughout the five tracks. The trouble is that the band currently lack the poise to completely implement what are undoubtedly ambitious ideas; the quieter bits can tend to remind you a little of (whisper it now) Linkin Park whilst the switch between instrumental escapism and straight ahead thrash metal is sometimes done at a rate of knots that suggests the work of two different bands within a song. Final track I’ve Seen Dragons With Feet Like Rabbits brings in a synth line towards the end of what is otherwise a track afflicted by that dreaded genre/fashion of Emo, and merely reinforces the fact that at times A Word Like. Attack don’t quite have enough quality control.

This does sound rather overly critical yes, but only because when getting it right, this is a band who will fully deserve our attention, and if they can just form a more cohesive unit in their minds to match their technical skill and broad ideas, we could see something really special. As it is, this isn’t quite it.

Comment on this article