Bombs Are Falling and They’re Full Of Skate Punk – ‘On Deaf Ears’ In Review.
Bombs Are Falling – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Photo credit – Matt Gleeson.
Bombs Are Falling hail from Melbourne, Australia and they are a band, a band that play lyrically assertive Skate Punk in a fast and melodic manner. Review over. Go home.
Don’t go home, because this band need to be done justice. Listing influence from the likes Pennywise, Good Riddance, No Fun At All, Bad Religion and NOFX, they’d already gained brownie points from me after a simple glance over those few words. On Deaf Ears was released in late 2015 and is the debut full-length from Bombs Are Falling, so lets get to it – no pressure…
\\On Deaf Ears//
‘You don’t even want to try, all you want is a free ride all the gain, without the pain, all you want is a free ride, fact is you don’t understand – actions must start with plans There is no way, we’ll stand aside – all you want is a free ride!’
Track one waste’s no time as you can see from the above. Fast, punchy, crunchy Punk aggression and simple, yet effective, guitar work and drumming sets the tone perfectly.
‘All That I Know’ and ‘We Won’t Go’ add an anthemic injection the way only Skate Punk and Melodic Hardcore can.
The former’s refrains and chord progression are fist-in-the-air worthy, while the contrast between the almost old-school (maybe Gorilla Biscuits-esque) Hardcore verses of the latter, and it’s – what can only be described as – “melodic-anthem-bassey-time” at 1:17, followed by more classic Skate Punk guitar melodies, are proof of how simple Rock n’ Roll can still reign.
‘Title Fight’ isn’t anything overtly special or standout, but keeps the pace well enough and schools us again with an infectious chorus. ‘Once Chance’ hits us with the Pennywise-isms the band carry so well, as well as minute, but notable Thrash influences.
Speaking of the Pennywise influence, the band’s chosen implementations lean strongly towards the Hermosa legend’s earlier days but at the same time, oddly show a likeness to the controversial 2012 release, All Or Nothing. Fight me.
Regarding the Thrash-isms, from ‘Once Chance’ onwards, the album takes a turn for the harder edge of the band’s influences more and more. ‘Toughest Lessons’ is a good example of such, as is ‘Cannonball’ with it’s defiant rant at existence and determination.
‘Doubters’ jabs you repeatedly in the face with jagged riffage and punchy lyrics, not forgetting the short but sweet n’ tasty solo and lead riffs, while ‘Something To Rely On’ is another number exemplary of Bomb Are Falling’s sound.
‘Bombs Are Falling’ is the bands self-titled number. I always approach songs titled this way with caution, because if it’s attempted in vain and quite frankly cocked-up, it never looks good. This particular foray into that expanse of a grey-area however, feels like an old-one from back in the early days, rising defiantly and determined to make it’s mark.
‘Want More’, the penultimate, literally sounds like the on-screen union of Pennywise and Good Riddance with Bad Religion filming the close ups and having a ‘solo’ in the corner, if you know what I mean… Smut aside, it leads on to the finale of ‘Bigger Things’ which I won’t focus on too much as we’ve got ‘bigger things to worry about…’
See what I did there? Well, that’s it, hopefully it didn’t fall on deaf ears because that would quite frankly be a bit shit. A well constructed debut release by a hard working band. Find all the links you need below:
- For updates and contact: Facebook & Twitter.
- For digital music head to: bandcamp.
- If shirts and hard copies are more your thing, catch Bombs Are Falling live, I’m sure they will have some knocking about.
#StayFresh
