Now this is an odd one – I can’t make out whether it’s great or not. ‘The New Empire’ is a three-tracker which has plenty of good ideas, yet there seems to be too much here that reminds me of other bands. At times they’re a bit like The Living End, at others there is something altogether more British about them. Yet on all three songs, the tracks don’t quite build up and explode as they potentially should do. As Simon Cowell might say, there’s an x-factor missing…
F451 at least have the right idea; the guitars wander and create interesting riffs, while the drums – admittedly a little tinny – are packed with interesting fills. The three-way vocal attack is also encouraging, even if they don’t always hit the notes. It’s perhaps emphasised by the third and final track, which is full of good ideas but is let down by some slightly sloppy execution. There’s enough here to hold interest – and I guess they’re doing something that’s not particularly formulaic – but there’s a bit of hard work to be done if the band want to progress.
www.f451.org.uk
Paul