Bull See Red
Chinatown Part 2
Lockjaw Records
The second part to Bull See Red's 'Chinatown' series, part 2 is made up of five original tracks, and two live cuts of songs from part one.
The choice to release two seperate ep's rather than one album is an odd one, and a total shame, if these were one full album rather than a pair of smaller collections, they'd have a tru alt.rock classic on their hands. This is pure, big stage rock, make no mistake, but it's also bold, fresh, and truly remarkable. Opener 'Galactica' powers off to a great start, knocking on the doors of epic, and, with no effort at all, leaves those recently famed for stadium bothering rock trailing behind, without the need for 'urgent' & 'grandiose' production (I'm looking at you, Biffy).
Although far removed from what I'll be writing about regularly (mainly stuff of the hardcore variety, or at least the fast/heavy/shouty stuff), this release needs to be heard, and, much like heavier offerings like the previously reviewed 'Widow country' from Lavotchkin, it's a mixed curse for an ep of such quality; such short track listing leaves absolutely no room for filler, and has you quite happily hitting the play button again as soon as it's over. Happily, albeit a touch begrudgingly too, as I for one would love to hear more.
Following on from the acoustic closer 'Benirras' (think something along the lines of Blur's 'tender', but with better vocals) the live offerings tacked at the end show off what they're capable of, and are far better quality recordings than you'd usually expect, which is nice; 'chinatown' itself comes over heavier than anything else here, although with a definite hint of their influences (namely Alkaline Trio), and 'Knee High genocide' keeping the grown-up, pop-punk vibe going. This is a nice little release for anyone who likes their music to be less of a challenge, and that's no bad thing, sometimes it's nice.
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