I’m not quite sure what ‘B.W.A’ stands for – Bears With Attitude? Bears Who Annoy? Bears Without Accountants? And, to be honest, I had more fun speculating about the title than I did have listening to this 3 track offering. First song ‘Do You Not Know Who I Am?’ is an exercise in dullness; the vocals are tepid, slightly mismatched to the beat and fluctuate in volume like a bobbing wave. Not a great start.
Things improve slightly with ‘May Joy’, but this sounds like too much like a dodgy Me vs Hero B-side. And the problem is that it’s a derivative of a derivative of a derivative. This is the fourth generation away from something even as ubiquitous as New Found Glory and, despite the occasional promising moment, such as the bridge and the gradual, plodding broken down outro, it’s not quite there.
‘Grant’s Not Gutteral’ also occasionally shows promise, and the drummer actually sounds like he’s synchronising everyone here, rather than trying to keep up. But vocal limitations prevent this from rising much above average. Similarly, the keys in this song sound completely untouched and are mismatched to the tone of the song.
B.W.A just about keeps its head above water, but WD?BD! have a big step up to make if they want to take this above the level of their hometown.