Ocean Bottom Nightmare are from Nottingham, which I know from spending a few years there, has always followed its own pattern. It’s one of those towns where the usual trends never quite take away from a certain quirkiness that comes through with the bands that are from there. OBN are not particularly an exception, they mix sounds from massively different bands. I hear everything from T-Rex to Smashing Pumpkins to Refused in this, their debut 4 track CD. It’s 4 songs of polished post-punk.
Massively distorted bass, the occasional scream, Bad Religion-esque group harmonies, repeating mantras and even the occasional Donnas style high melodies make for a unique mix, and a pretty entertaining one at that. The songs aren’t quite strong enough to make the head bop as you sit at your laptop, but this is a promising little EP. Its clear that the band attempt a whole lot of different things here, some more appealing than others (the stuff on here which approaches more the Mike Patton end of things is a lot more interesting than the more melodic parts). This could easily be the springboard for bigger things.
Mike