Eurgh. ‘Initiation’ is a record that sounds like it’s trying to find an identity but never actually achieves its aim. There’s no doubt Aimee Echo is a bit of a legend, but The Start’s first full-length for Nitro is an album which tries to throw 80s synth stylings into a punk melting pot – but it just sounds pretty bad. To be honest, some of the songs on here could probably fit on the soundtrack to the movie The Wedding Singer (that one with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore); ie songs that you wince when you hear them.
In the press release that accompanied this record, vocalist Aimee Echo goes to great lengths to say The Start are a punk rock band for being different. “I always thought that being punk was being different from anybody else and making sure your personal integrity remained intact,” she said. Which, at face value, is fair enough. But when you make a record that’s unashamedly crap, then call it ‘different’, you have to live with the resulting reviews. The truth is that The Start is certainly different – but ‘Initiation’ is just a rubbish record which is destined to be consigned to a long life on the shelf. ‘The Underwater Song’ sounds like No Doubt if they’d have lived through the 80s and never discovered ska, ‘All Or Nothing’ potters on without ever doing anything and the title track is just pure dirge. There’s no get up and go, no spark. It’s an album that meanders and never finds what it is looking for. Whatever that is.
I didn’t particularly enjoy The Start’s EP, but for me, this album is far worse. I will give them credit for not following the black t-shirt brigade and merely copying the latest trends, but for the most part ‘Initiation’ is completely unlistenable.
www.thisisthestart.com
Nitro Records
Paul
