Nine Black Alps - Everything Is

Genre rock Publisher Interscope/Tiny Evil External Links Official Nine Black Alps Website Interscope Tiny Evil

Nine Black Alps hail from Manchester, England and that makes me want to call for an investigation into the water system there because good God how many agreeable bands can one place produce? Referring to Nine Black Alps as agreeable rather than oh, say, great, was intentional and I'll get to why later. Since the release of their debut Everything Is they have garnered much praise from the press and fans alike, but have yet to fully break out into the everyone in American who knows about music has heard of them stratosphere.

With regards to Everything Is, if you are the type of person who enjoys bands from across the pond but wish that they rocked a little bit harder, well, songs like "Get Your Guns," "Cosmopolitan" and "Shot Down" will get that hair of yours flinging all around the room. Are they punk? Metal? Grunge? Well, I could make arguments on all three, but ultimately I'm not big on labels so I'll leave it for you to judge. In case you are stuck on my using the word grunge, I use it because of the song "Not Everyone's" being as close to Nirvana as you can get. That signature fuzzy, squealing guitar sound, the angst, the similar chorus to "Smells Like Teen Spirit," albeit with different words, they're all here.

If the British imports already rock hard enough for you, do not fret. Songs like "Unsatisfied" and "Ironside" are there for your tastes. If you are in the market for that special song to go on that mix tape to make you sadder than you already are then look no further than "Intermission," which uses slide-guitar and delicate vocals track which just might be the best thing on the record.

Since everything in this review seems to be positive, why label them only agreeable? Why not call them great? Well, this record displays a band that just is not fully there yet. Yes, it is a fun record to play loud. No, there is not anything boring about it. But it lacks something elusive. Inspiration? Singularity? Mastery? I'm not sure exactly. What I am sure of is Nine Black Alps have delivered a solid record, but in doing so they also showed us that the bar can be set higher for them the next time out.