I think it’s pretty fair to say Lobster Records is criminally underrated as a record label. For an imprint that has ‘discovered’ the likes of Over It, Yellowcard and Staring Back, to name but three, almost every record they release is paved in gold. A Small Victory and Days Like These are two of the latest alumni, and while the DLT record was extremely impressive, I wasn’t quite so chuffed with the ASL EP. However, this new album is pretty good indeed and maintains Lobster’s impressive reputation.
The label itself described ‘El Camino’ as a “heap of country fried rock n roll with a whiskey back†which actually is quite a fair description. Mark Walker’s vocals suit the band’s driving guitar style superbly, making many of the tracks really anthemic. His vocals are backed up with three members of the band who fill in on backing vocals, and this also adds a real depth to the harmonies. It means tracks like ‘Limousines and Cheap Cigars’ and ‘Blindmans Holiday’ are real singalong efforts. The crunchy guitars of ‘Stabbing Tree’ also impress, breaking up the instant poppier songs and show A Small Victory are far from one trick ponies.
‘El Camino’ is a really solid and enjoyable record that I’d recommend to anyone that likes driving guitars and plenty of singalong hooks. It’d be unfair to place A Small Victory in the ‘emo’ bracket, because that would possibly suggest this album is contrived or fake in some way. But it’s not, it’s an honest and enjoyable rock record that keeps up the impressive release schedule Lobster has built on.
www.asmallvictory.com
Lobster Records
Paul