Album Review

A Word Like.Attack – Ships Hung In The Sky

• 29th Mar 2008

There’s very little in the form of originality here, and it’s certainly not what you’d call radio-friendly, but if you like your music rough and ready and appreciate post-hardcore bands, such as Glassjaw and Thrice you should find something to enjoy here.

The band have made their stake to the claim of ‘ridiculously song title of the year award’ with their track ‘I’ve seen dragons with feet like rabbits (it’s true I swear it)’. Bizarre song titles aside, it’s probably the finest track on this E.P. It’s the only one where they ditch their full throttle ‘in ya face’ formula and it works to good effect, the style here is very compelling and reminiscent of early ‘Cave-In’. Elsewhere though the band are often very predictable, the instrumental progressions are impressive but the climax is always foreseeable and the vocals lack depth, rendering them victims of the tried and tested ‘quiet-loud-quiet-loud’ formula.

‘a word like.attack’ are an extremely energetic band but their chaotic style was lost on me largely due to a lack of inventiveness, and they really should ditch the dodgy electronic/ ambient input, which springs to mind, dare I say it, ‘Linkin Park’.