Saint Apache – ‘Wolf Machine’

When a press release describes a band as “fiery noise beasts” you expect a procession of searing riffs that would melt your face off if you got too close. Maybe it’s a classic case of going a bit too far with the platitudes, but what Saint Apache deliver is some lukewarm and forgettable guitar parts, and vocals from a singer that sounds like he’s angry but isn’t yet sure what he’s angry about.

To their credit Saint Apache at least conjure up some early excitement with the swaggering ‘You’re Not A Slave’. One thing that the band have in spades is confidence, and it flows through every part of the song — or at least it does until it’s interrupted by a misplaced spoken word bridge. Chances are that it would take on a new sense of urgency in a live setting, but unfortunately on record it’s missing that vital spark that would make it the hard-hitting call to arms that it tries hard to be.

‘The Story Doesn’t End Here’ carries on the in-your-face feel of the EP but is already showing signs of tiredness. The guitars sound just as dirty and it stomps around with a recurring riff that it would be kind to say owes a debt of gratitude to ‘Killing In The Name Of’. However Saint Apache have very little of the urgency and well-channelled anger of Rage Against The Machine, despite their attempts to get all political on ‘Wolf Machine’. For a song that wants to be controversial and confrontational, with Saint Apache imploring people to “fuck the government” and “bring down the wolf machine”, it succeeds only in coming across as worn-out and boring.

Tacked on to the end of the EP are clean versions of ‘Wolf Machine’ and ‘You’re Not A Slave’. They’re clumsily edited however and the almost immediate repetition further lessens any sense of impact that the songs retained. There will always be a place for music with a message and perhaps Saint Apache will find their voice in the future, but on this evidence they have a lot of searching ahead of them.

CHRIS HILSON