Fake the Attack have a wealth of experience under their belt, experience that they’ve accumulated over the last six years. They’ve toured with the likes of Eva Plays Dead, and recorded material with John Mitchell and Ben Humphreys at Outhouse Studios, Reading. And now, they’ve put their collective heads and talent together to bring their album ‘Stranger Times’.
‘Stranger Times’ is slightly heavier. Dark riffs are paired with Ashlyn Marshall’s haunting vocals, creating a rather magical track. ‘Inevitable’ is punchy, complete with catchy hooks and saucy guitar licks, while ‘Drive’ introduces a slightly more electronica-element to Fake the Attack’s repertoire. It doesn’t quite soar, but it’s quietly powerful in its own way.
‘A Close Run Thing’ and ‘Wildwood’ display solid talent, with big riffs and polished drum work combining to create fun, quirky tracks. Male backing vocals during ‘Belize’ help to fill out this track.
One downfall about this album is that a few of the tracks drag on for a bit too long; ‘Cellar Door’ is one such example. It starts off well, with huge slabs of punchy pop-rock fun, melodic hooks, and a bouncy chorus.
However, the bridge carries on for that minute too long and even the added swells of a saxophone do nothing to detract that it’s time for this track to turn over pronto. Add in the fact that, here, while Ashlyn’s vocals soar, they end up getting rather grating towards the end, and you desperately wish for them to wrap things up.
‘Stranger Times’ is a strong release – there’s no arguing with that. However, it feels slow and sluggish, tired and weary, and you can’t help but feel that you’ve listened to this album once before elsewhere, by another band with a different title.
Props to Fake the Attack for what they’ve done, but they haven’t created anything ground-breaking. They’re just plodding down the same worn path that everyone else is walking.
JESS TAGLIANI