Brazil is probably best known for Samba, hot women and football. But things may well be changing. It would seem that Punktastic is getting out and about, as this week I received CDs from Slovenia and the South American footballing mecca itself. Randal Grave are now on their third record, and this 16-track album is not only meaty in length, but also showcases their skate-punk ways.
16 tracks is a lot, and to be fair this record is probably half-a-dozen too many. Even though tracks like the opening ‘Retarded Me’ last for little more than 90 seconds, songs do begin to sound the same, even though the quartet try desperately to keep things fresh by throwing in random keyboard and trumpet parts. In the short-term this works well, but on repeated listens their Bouncing Souls-meets-NOFX sound doesn’t really make too many waves. However, when the band really go for it, they come across well. ‘Fast Forward’ has a really strong vocal, while ‘Song For John Doe’ is as catchy as anything else on the record.
‘No Brain, No Pain’ won’t change the world, but if this is the standard of the Brazilian punk rock scene then it clearly stands in good stead. There are too many influences on show here, and to stand out nowadays the melodies have to be super sweet or the drums have to be hit really hard. Sadly for Randal Grave they don’t do that often enough. It’s good in places, but the consistency isn’t there for me.
www.randalgrave.com
rg@randalgrave.com
Lifeguard Music
Paul