Introducing French Punks Raincheck and Their ‘True Love’… EP.
Cover photo credit – Noodle Photography – Click Here.
(Above) Photo credit: Lukas Guidet.
We’ve had our brief forays into French Punk music but nothing at length. This thought occurred to me a few days prior and upon opening our very full inbox that we are trying to get through as quickly as possible, I saw a request to tackle True Love.
Luckily in this case it has manifested itself in the form of six tracks of fast, crunchy, driven and melodic French Punk-Rock and I’m happy with that. The other one is far too complicated.
A more sporadic Banner Pilot, the upbeat side of After The Fall, Brendan Kelly of The Lawrence Arms? Any of the above? Well you might need to go Lyon and might have found…
\\True Love//
I normally enjoy making comparisons and/or “for fans of” references when reviewing a release or band but I was actually very stumped with this one and what I did pen was not an initial click of finger or thumb no matter how settled on them I was.
‘Work Less Chill Mass’ is very much a classic blast of post-noughties Punk-Rock with its leftover charge from the 90s and care free and real attitude of the present. While ‘Fresh Start’ with its melodic and almost sombre lead riff marks a more “serious” track clad with enough hooks for days.
Raincheck are a polished band but manage to sound far grittier and abrasive than you’d expect. Now, that may seem an idiotic statement as you have to hear a band first in order to know what they sound like but by the half way point you will know exactly what I mean, with the up-tempo melodics of ‘Self Sabotage’ as my case study.
You know what’s uncool? Me, but that’s another story. ‘Uncool’ is the perfect raspy Punk song after the anthem of the “self-fuck-up” prior in the running order. The shortest on the EP, it perhaps makes the most of that time with the bands tried and tested but by no means banal formula.
The dynamics of this band are in strong contrast and compliments of each other. The hoarse almost strained vocals and honest lyrics are intertwined. The simplistic guitar leads are forced to further prominence because of this and the crunchy rhythms, bass and percussion themselves are contrasted to this and form their own unit. In short, this concoction works and well at that.
With ‘Overflow’ and closer ‘Party Daze’, you finally realise that the band remind you of Dillinger Four and Dear Landlord (who need to do another album… please?) and if you’re me – and you don’t want that, you get a little taste of UK Punks Stay Clean Jolene who you definitely need get into after this.
Criticisms? There is a general sound and all the songs do sound similar but whether or not its to an extent that would personally prompt you to hold it as a criticism is up to you.
Could they do with a few slower tracks and a few heavy, more aggressive numbers? Maybe, but we’ll have to wait for the next one because for now, I have one more reason to go to Lyon.
Make a Raincheck below:
- For updates head to Facebook.
- For your chance at True Love, head to bandcamp.
- If cassette tapes are you thing (with downloads), you should head to the PPB Records Facebook page and find out more, you may even True Love.
#StayFresh
