On The Outside are a mean-looking bunch. A gigging history which includes Bane and With Honor gives you good idea of what to expect when you hit play and, in that respect, you’re not disappointed. My caution was exercised as the last Thorp Records release I encountered was A Daydream Disaster by Fordirelifesake and it left me feeling ill. Thankfully, Tragic Endings is a lot better.
Tracks like ‘This Must Be Hell’ work a lot better when the tempo is varied and things aren’t allowed to settle. The sound of most tracks fall sweetly into an anthemic, shouty bracket and, if you’re me, you’re wondering what kind of carnage this produces in a live atmosphere. Track 7 ‘Day In Day Out’ is probably this album at its best, slightly surpassing the superbly downtrodden feel of ‘No Place to Call Home’; the grinding, chugging guitars perfectly of the former offset the (particularly) harsh vocals and represent the record’s high point, despite ‘Chip On My Shoulder’ scoring slightly higher on the catchability/single-worthy chart.
What stops this album scoring higher is that, despite the odd solo (case in point: the last few seconds of ‘Everything I Used To Be’) there aren’t enough bits breaking up the relentless vocal assault which tends to lose its effectiveness after a while whereas the guitar work remains excellent throughout and I’m definitely a fan of it. If you’re mad for this kind of stuff (I’m neither here nor there – objective all the way!) then you could probably do with whacking another half a star onto the score and you’ll lap it up, but the lack of variety just pulls it down that little bit. Still, I recognize that spicing things up must be a little difficult when you ram 10 tracks into under 20 minutes; a length which this review is appropriately reflective of.
www.thorprecords.com/bands/ontheoutside.php
Thorp Records
Spud