With most of my previous Robots knowledge based on their 'Liebestod' offering, I'm glad to report that 'Victory As A Drug' is, in my opinion, a vast improvement on that last outing. Released on Jealous Records, this new four-tracker (well, new if you mean six months old...) is back to what they do best. It's chugging rock with plenty of emotion on show, not really fitting in with any of those genres I'm at pains to tag bands in.
Vocalist Kev McGonnell has a distinctive voice and like the other 'scene' bands the Robots associate themselves with you can tell a lot of hard work and love goes into the records they create. 'Victory As A Drug' is no different, a record which is very difficult to pigeonhole because it is complex and crafted well. The self-titled opening track has a very distinctive guitar riff, reminding me of their chums in bands like Sunfactor and Otherwise, but probably without the instant hooks that those bands have forumlated. 'Funeral of Flowers' chugs away slowly, building up into a crescendo of screams at the end. It's well performed and written as the guitars build and build and the backing vocals have such a raw edge to them that it doesn't ever give the song the chance to go off into cliched territory.
'Push and Pull' is very poetic lyrically, almost as if the track was originally written in that form. It has a very 'rough' sound to it too even more so than some of the other songs. It gives the track an even edgier feel, especially because the vocals aren't as high in the mix as the guitars making it feel quite distant. Final track 'Fighting Dragons' is more upbeat, both musically and lyrically, with Kev singing "there is nothing I can't do" with a little swagger in his voice, yet never sounding particularly overconfident. A note of praise for the artwork as well, which is as inventive as ever.
I'm not a huge Robots fan, mainly because I really didn't rate 'Liebestod' at all and it put me off, but this is a competent record that will no doubt please fans and attract a few more too. It's interesting to note that Kev has now added the Laura Audio side-project to his bow, what effect this has on the future of the Robots will be very interesting...
www.therobots.co.uk
Paul
