I always find it a brave decision when bands up sticks and move to another country in order to find success, and Oslo Beat‘s decision to leave Norway and come to the UK is indeed a brave move. “Accidents Never Happen” is a good effort containing ten fairly solid angular indie rock tracks, but never once is it anything exceptional and you start to yearn for a track to jump out and grab your attention. Whether or not that move will propel them into the mainstream remains to be seen though but I can’t see it happening with this release as at times it’s a little too drawn out and vocally it’s pretty non-descript (until that is, the odd scream can be heard).
With a inclination to drift into slightly erratic instrumental moments you can praise Oslo Beat for adding a bit more to the up tempo indie rock genre though, as tracks such as “Killer boots” can sound epic at times. This is certainly the case with “Saturday Night” a six minute long musical journey, which starts slowly before peeking a full four minutes later – but I’ve heard better in terms of instrumental tracks. While the inclusion of such moments makes this album interesting, tracks such as “Hint” and “the Girl who loved too much” sound a bit flat and are nothing more than unimaginative indie-rock tracks without a hook. Essentially that’s the main problem of this album, it tries to add an interesting element but those moments aren’t quite good enough to tip the balance.
In terms of suitability for the Punktastic audience I could say that Oslo Beat will find interested listeners on our forums, but on the whole many will look for something with a bit more substance and that includes me. This is by no means a bad album, but never really one that grabs my attention sadly.
Tom