Been Around EP,
Two Day RuleYet another one I should’ve reviewed a long time ago. I dug this out of my CD pile about a week ago and I really am glad I did because this is the kind of melodic punk rock that makes the world go round. I suppose I should get this out of the way: there is a girl in Two Day Rule, and she sings a bit. That means that I can just chuck in some lazy comparisons to Save Ferris or perhaps ID#1 (RIP) and palm off the rest of the music. Or I could ‘do a Kerrang’ and not bother to listen to it and confuse a girl with a boy as happened with the ace No Comply. Or I could review it properly.
The thing is, there are times when Two Day Rule really do sound like Save Ferris or early No Doubt, with the chunky melodies and distinctive vocal presence of Andrea Kenny, but to be honest these moments aren’t hugely frequent. To call TDR a rip-off band simply because they happen to have something in common with other bands is preposterous and lazy as fuck since the truth is that Neil Murray shares the vocal duties for the most part, and on the title track the bouncy melodies are augmented by a solid bassline that weaves in and out of the main lines with ease. What’s most impressive about this band is the confidence with which they throw in accomplished riffs and this is demonstrated pertinently in ‘Make The Best Of Being Wrong’, which could be Tsunami Bomb a bit slower.
True, there does seem to be some generic punk on here, but it never really strays into the poppiest territory; no cheesily saccharine lyrics or all-too predictable choruses here. The fantastic ‘Nothing Serious’ has a cynical verse section that just takes flight during the chorus and to finally slip into shit-journo mode, the vocal interplay works extremely well – I’m not saying it’s gimmicky at all, (and to generalise hugely) just that female vocalists have a totally different edge to their voices which fits punk rock like a glove. However, ‘Gone For Good’ rapidly slips into the mundane muted riffing that starts in one place, then continues standing still, then sits down at the end – not the most exciting of tracks, it must be said.
‘One More Time’ takes on an inventive ska pattern that deviates from that clean/dirty, quiet/loud template which grates so quickly, but doesn’t really set itself apart from other tracks on the EP. I guess that’s TDR in a nutshell – they have some very good moments when their music really does soar, but they’re too few and far between for their songs to make a lasting impression. After the languid final track by the name of ‘Waiting For The End’ that serves as an atmospheric closer which wouldn’t appear out of place on a dark film score there’s a somewhat pointless secret track – pointless because it’s really good and there’s no need to ‘hide’ it. Trouble is, apart from a couple of exceptions the tracks on ‘Been Around’ don’t really distinguish themselves and I think that ends up as a real shame because they could be an excellent band if they concentrated a bit harder on the slices of melody and fast pace. Promising, and if you’re a fan of any of the aforementioned bands then I seriously recommend this.
Ben
