Coming from the same South-Wales clique that produced Lostprophets, Funeral For a Friend, Hondo Maclean et al, Dopamine are here with their second full-length, ‘Experiments with the truth’ to try and mirror the success of their better-known hometown friends. It’s only a shame when you realise that this record is far, far better than the sophomore offerings produced by any of the aforementioned bands, and makes you wonder why these guys aren’t the ones with top ten albums and the international success.
Having never heard their earlier offerings, I’m not going to sit here and compare this record to what’s been written about, but I will say this – I’ve been on something of a mission to track down a record of theirs since I caught them on the offchance a few years ago, as their live set (if you’ll excuse the overly-used imagery) literally blew me away. Fortunately, what they do on stage translates brilliantly onto CD, and ‘Experiments with the Truth’ is full of poppy, emotive and brutally honest tracks.
Kicking off with a blinder in the form of the title track, the first thing to note about this record is how absolutely spot on the production is. It’s not too overproduced, yet it’s not too raw to limit Dopamine‘s appeal. Neil Starr’s vocals blend perfectly into the mesh of distortion and melody to produce a truly brilliant opening track. As you progress further throughout the album, you realise Dopamine are one of those bands that make no secret of the fact that they wear their hearts on their sleeves, and songs such as ‘Too Late’ and ‘Still Hiding’ do nothing to dispel this myth. The latter has a simply fantastic vocal intro that helps to create a sense of diversity throughout the album’s flow. In fact it’s nigh on impossible to find a song here that doesn’t stand up against the others. It’s rare to find a record so crammed full of frankly awesome tunes, and while there will be hits (Call to Arms, Experiments with the Truth), this is not a band in the business of writing near-misses.
It’s about bloody time the cream of the underground got some recognition, as while they are still without a record contract, there’s no doubt in my mind that Dopamine are the jewel in the proverbial crown.
Andy R