Endless Journey,
MultiballMultiball are a plus one to the world of pop-punk and are unlikely to win any awards for originality. They can claim to be the first Slovenian pop-punk act I've heard but that's about it, I'm afraid.
I'm torn here, I really am. On the one hand, Multiball can be described as not bad and a fair take on generic pop-punk based bouncery. Then they go and let themselves down with tracks like 'Too many' which significantly drag this CD down. Most songs are fairly well put together despite the fact that track 2 'We don't know why' lifts one of its riffs straight out of a song I've heard recently – but I'll be damned if I know which one. Infuriating! My real problem is the warbling vocals. They're the aural equivalent of a vibrating jelly (see track 4 for the best illustration of this) and I can't seem to hook onto them except in a few tracks where a gruffer sound is employed to compliment a heavier guitar line such as in the opening two tracks. In fact, if the band's next release employs this harsher style throughout the record then I can see them making some decent headway.
I'm not quite sure where the problems with the vocals stem from. Perhaps it's a pre-occupation with making their record sound accentless and an attempt to appeal to a wider audience but it's distracting. That said, every time I write something remotely negative in this review I remind myself that there are some great tracks underneath it all and two or three which work as they are. A greater vocabulary on display within the lyrics would be nice too, but my Slovenian isn't up to much so I won't dwell on that.
I can't blindly recommend this to you all, but I can't deny the obvious promise shown within. If their next release addresses the issues I have with the vocals (which, I must stress, doesn't seem to affect all songs) and keeps the awesome, if generic, hooks and progressions used here, then I can see them producing something of real substance in the future. As it stands at the moment, they come across as the Lipton Ice Tea of the pop-punk world: not to everyone's tastes. There are much shittier records than this floating around at the moment though, and I can't be too harsh on what is a mildly exciting prospect especially when a trio of songs open with riffs so air-guitar-worthy that I find it hard to control my hands. Not bad.
www.multiballband.com
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