It’s not often we get sent demos as diverse as this quintet, and it certainly makes a nice change from the legions of clones clogging up my review pile. Opener ‘I Got You’ has a funk stomp that is infectiously catchy up to the point of frustration since there’s only so many times the same bassline can (or indeed should) be repeated in some protracted Chilli Peppers rip off, and as a whole, ‘I Got You’ is insubstantial in it’s reliance on repetitive lyrics and at times the band don’t sound like an organic entity – here’s a bass riff, here’s a guitar solo, here’s some vocals, here’s a drum fill…there’s not a great deal of coherence amongst the obvious talent.
The much darker ‘Heart of Stone’ is more successful in its brooding menace and confidently spacey guitar that lends Hannah’s vocals an almost ethereal quality. Unfortunately, the band tend to fill the early part of the song with inventive ideas, like the languid drumming or driving bass, but fall back on these familiar motifs a few too many times, leaving the song sounding a touch dull by the time they try something new.
‘Epitaph’ is not a paean to a certain record company, but a slightly 80s-pop-meets-Tool number that moves from the cheesy intro to a much darker bass riff, but yet again Nexus seem to be content with second gear, never letting themselves kick in or really let go. It’s frustrating to listen to because there are a wealth of good ideas, and the music expressed on the demo suggests a large depth of talent, but simply aiming at a more leftfield sound is not enough, they have to really immerse themselves in what they appear to be aiming at. At the moment they start off very promisingly, but fail to deliver – as it stands, they’re not the finished article.
Ben
www.nexusband.tk
