January 2014 has been pretty kind to us in the sense that some of the more promising British bands we have on offer have released their respective debut albums. Neck Deep passed the test by releasing an album worth the hype in their effort ‘Wishful Thinking’ so it’s up to Bath based pop rock punks, Decade to follow them on the path towards sold out tours and festival slots with their debut album ‘Good Luck.’
It’s been a long time coming for Decade, they’ve been riding a wave of hype for a while and the release of is probably considered the lead single, ‘British Weather’ back in December did its job by whetting the appetite of fans and even those who were yet to be convinced, ‘British Weather’ is perhaps the most obvious single from the album, it’s the bounciest effort on ‘Good Luck’ but that’s not to say there aren’t other potential singles, take ‘Woke’ which is overall a better effort than ‘British Weather’ it’s faster, it’s more instant and probably benefits more for not being an initial single. We’ve all been given tasters of the album through ‘Brainfreeze’ again another good song and ‘Callous’ which lends heavily from the likes of Title Fight and Basement.
‘Good Luck’ opens with the title track that has a wholly unexpected big opening riff doing a great job in forcing you to give your full attention to the music you’re hearing. The song itself sounds like a love letter to the band, the lyrics give an insight into how much Decade the band means to its members and it’s a wonderful listen. The record isn’t without its flaws… the vocals of Alex Sears can sometimes come across as a bit shouty and without substance, however, this is easily counteracted by the likes of ‘Brainfreeze’ and ‘Coffin’ which do show off a variety in his voice, particularly in the latter, it’s more subtle and works well with the bits that are generally a bit louder.
At only 27 minutes long, ‘Good Luck’ never feels like an effort to listen to at all, by the time you come around to closing track ‘Fake Teeth’ you’d be forgiven for immediately setting the album up for a repeat listen. Overall, Decade have really delivered with ‘Good Luck’ it’s all so easy for bands with a bit of hype to deliver an underwhelming first album but that’s not the case here. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Decade grace a main stage or two at some of the UK’s bigger festivals this summer and it’s all absolutely deserved.
CHRIS MARSHMAN