If this was an EP or mini-album, I’d be creaming myself over a British band that throw out well oiled skate-punk riffs on top of a political vocal slant. Sadly ‘Prime Sinister’ goes on too long and with a few filler tracks the overall effect of the album is lost. That’s not to say Reason 69 are a bad band or anything like that, I just think there’s too much here. An eight-track record would probably have gained an extra half-star on the score – it would have left the record more compact and left you begging for more.
Opener ‘The Art Of Saying What You Mean’ is fantastic; all palm-muted riffs, pick-slides and thunderous drums. And if you like that, then you will like the vast majority of the record. But over 12 songs things start to sound the same, the riffs become recycled and the ideas start to dry up. ‘I’ve Decided’ is another golden track with a huge melodic chorus, showing off Iain Wetherell’s clever production, while tracks like ‘Same Shit Different Day’ and ‘Broken String’ take things up a notch speed-wise, throwing out some awesoem lead guitar parts.
But the more you listen to this record, the more the appeal wears off. Tracks like ‘Pint for the Pain’ are great for the first few listens, but when you’ve had the album on repeat several times, the songs tend to blend into one another. Reason 69 remind me of a more technical Phinius Gage, but the reason why PG have kicked on their careers is because their songs are far more memorable. The R69 songs tend to be built around the same structures – long(ish) instrumental intro, thunderous drum build up and then 100mph guitars and fast British vocals – and while there’s nothing wrong with that, over an album it makes things sound samey. There’s also blatant nods at bands like Consumed and NOFX (the whole Epi-Fat sound is reasonably plagarised throughout), so if that appeals you really should give R69 a whirl. ‘Best Left Alone‘ and ‘Down and Out’ are fantastic songs mind.
Overall it’s pretty clever that Reason 69 have lots of talent – and something to say – and ‘Prime Sinister’ does showcase this. But over 45-minutes it starts to become a bit too much. The songs structures are all pretty much the same and this is why R69 don’t score better. If I could, I would give this three-and-a-quarter stars, but as the system won’t allow me to do that, I’ll be generous and round up.
www.reason69.com
Released on 20 Deck Records
Paul