ALBUM REVIEW: Don’t You Feel Amazing? – Trash Boat
St Albans has had a run of success when it comes to the rock music scene. First with ENTER SHIKARI getting their highest charting record with Nothing Is True And Everything Is Possible reaching Number Two in the U.K. Albums chart. Now TRASH BOAT have joined the line of success. The punk rock band formed in 2014, and have released two albums to date, with their second album, Crown Shyness, receiving critical acclaim. Will their third album, Don’t You Feel Amazing?, continue their run of success?
The first song, and title track, starts off with a rough guitar riff. Tobi Duncan‘s vocal performance sounds like a sluggish university student attending a seminar after a night out. However, this improves during the chorus, as he has the help of guitarists Dann Bostock and Ryan Hyslop on backing vocals. The slow verses and the arena-singalong choruses smoothly transition into each other thanks to the excellent production. It’s an opening song is just as colourful and attention-grabbing as the album cover.
Silence Is Golden is a complete turnaround from the previous song. Starting off with screaming vocals that smoothly transitions into heavy instruments, TRASH BOAT lean heavily into their punk side. And it sounds delightful. The middle eight sounds like it comes straight out of a post-hardcore song. Despite the change in genre, the pacing of the album is not ruined. Thankfully, Bad Entertainment continues the punk side of TRASH BOAT. It is helped by the vocals of Milkie Way from WARGASM. Unfortunately, she is only on for the bridge of the song. This is a shame as she is a very talented singer who really could’ve brought something fresh to the table.
Unfortunately, the album slows down a little with the next song. Love Without Needing is a very good song; it has all the right ingredients for a rock song. It just feels out of place. This means that the pacing is a little off. This continues with He’s So Good, a lacklustre rock song. On the other hand, things pick up with the rip-roaring Vertigo. TRASH BOAT seem at their best when embracing the punk side, and this song shows why. It is loud, fun and the band sound like they’re enjoying themselves.
This is what is key to the album: having fun. TRASH BOAT enlist the help of hip-hop artist KAMIYADA+ on Alpha Omega to create a rock influenced rap song. This should not work on paper. However, despite the lacklustre lyrics (the chorus is mostly comprised of shouts of “You’re a fucking idiot!”), the instruments help build the song. Idios and Cannibal are opposite ends of the spectrum. The first is an angry punk song, whereas the latter is a rock song. Oddly enough, this does not disrupt the flow of the album. Live Like A King, Die Like An Animal is a short interlude that does not really add anything to the overall album. It could easily be added onto the end of Cannibal.
The album slows down a lot on All I Can Never Be. Acoustic songs can be hard to place on an album. After such high energy songs, this acoustic track could be viewed as a nice break. However, the placement feels misjudged. It almost sounds like a song that belongs on an entirely new album. Maladaptive Daydream is when someone experiences highly distracting daydreams. Regrettably, the song of the same name does not do that. It’s a peculiar way to end the album as it is an electronic rock song. This does not help the album’s already messy pacing. It is a lacklustre song to end the album.
TRASH BOAT‘s third outing is unfortunate. A promising start soon falls into a strange melting pot that has no direction. Despite some hidden gems, this album is full of pacing issues. TRASH BOAT are at their best when embracing their inner punk. It’s commendable that they are trying new ideas; however, this clearly shows that not every band can effortlessly blend different genres together.
Rating: 5/10
Don’t You Feel Amazing? is out now via Hopeless Records.
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