Album review: cleopatrick – BUMMER

cleopatrick like to make noise. A lot of noise. The Canadian duo’s debut album, BUMMER, starts loud, gets louder, and very rarely stops to take a breath. It’s intense, often fun, and occasionally annoying, but you’ve got to admire their love of absolutely titanic riffs.

VICTORIA PARK kicks things off with plenty of fuzz, as the band’s distorted riffs crash against one another and produce some manic punk. They follow it up with THE DRAKE, a similarly raucous rocker characterised by dominant guitar, and a song that makes it clear that the band – vocalist/guitarist Luke Gruntz and drummer Ian Fraser – are not at all interested in subtlety. FAMILY VAN, while still incredibly upbeat, does feel a little more thought-out and not so in-your-face, but as the crushingly loud songs keep flying out, it becomes obvious that such moments are little more than a fleeting reprieve from the noise.

Speaking of which, while cleopatrick’s obvious love of deafening rock and roll deserves praise, the longer BUMMER goes on, the more the songs seem to meld into one another, something which, at times, just sounds like a bit of a racket. Thankfully, though, as the album reaches its conclusion, Luke and Ian demonstrate their ability to step out of their comfort zone and reign things in. 2008, a quiet, brooding, moody slow-burner, is a song that oozes charisma, and one that proves the age-old mantra of ‘less is more’ sometimes pays dividends.

All told, BUMMER is an album where cleopatrick excel more than they struggle. Their sound could do with a little streamlining, but for a debut LP, this is a bold and at times very enjoyable effort.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Big Spring, Fangclub, The Luka State

BUMMER is out now via Nowhere Special.

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