ALBUM REVIEW: People Are The Worst – Cheap Meat
Debut full-length People Are The Worst from London-based trio CHEAP MEAT is a healthy romp through fun pop melodies and catchy-as-hell hooks. Falling short at some of its lyrical content, this is nevertheless an enjoyable listen, with Ross Drummond stealing the show with his mighty vocals.
The album was born out of strife; mental health diagnoses, Brexit, culture wars and microaggressions dominated the themes of the writing sessions for this album. The frustration and pain mostly come through in the music, which frequently traverses into unexpected places, welcoming for a band whose overall mission statement at first glance seems to be one of more simplicity.
The instrumentation throughout the record is truly stadium worthy; huge riffs, driving drum parts and sing-along melodies. However, the lyrics reliably fall short of the instrumental brilliance. It seems the band were aiming for a sweet and relatable slice-of-life depiction but frequently it will come across like the punchline to a joke at their expense. “I’ll bring you pretzels and poptarts in bed” is either adorable or gag-worthy, and I guess this one is more a case of personal opinion.
The echoed lyrics on Pasodoble are also a bit of a miss – sounding rather at odds with Drummond’s American-ised singing voice. This is a shame, since this is one of the strongest songs on the album – a sweet song about helping a friend through alcohol addiction which is occasionally a little hamfisted but nevertheless heartfelt. Another killer guitar solo finishes off the track, from Drummond, who truly carries the sound with killer vocal performances and soloing throughout the album.
Matt Rebeiro’s drumming also deserves a shout out, for larger than life snare work and keeping the band on track to their anthemic sound. Pete Hakola finalises the lineup, with a chugging bass ensuring the heaviness factor is on point for each song, and stopping the band straying too far into pop punk territory. It’s a narrow thread upon which this band walks (and occasionally teeters off) – a delicate balance of heavy stadium rock with heartfelt and often pretty corny lyricism. The sound which is created is as if SCOUTING FOR GIRLS got a little more angsty and then collided directly with the best moments of THE SMASHING PUMPKINS back catalogue, and it’s a sound which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.
Overall, People Are The Worst is sure to win the pop punk crowd around, with truly anthemic melodies and shout-from-the-rooftop hooks. It falls short from hitting its full stride time and again with some truly cringeworthy lyrics, “I wanna slow dance to power ballads… I’ll be your Eddie and you will be my Valerie”, is a particularly sore one. But it can’t be fully dismissed, as the instrumentation is interesting, catchy and headbangingly good. Approach with caution, but definitely stick this one on for the air guitar championships.
Rating: 6/10
People Are The Worst is set for release on January 29th via Jerk Store Records.
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