aaamusic | On 14, Nov 2010

Medway rockers Needs Must have something to say. Their Myspace page details their disgust in the way their hometown has gone downhill since Maggie Thatcher’s reign of terror, rising unemployment, corrupt council, rising capitalist homogenisation (or McVillages as they put it), it just generally makes you want to scream. And the fact that we have a band that talks about this kind of stuff is incredibly encouraging, no doubt about that, however the horrible truth is that their Myspace page states their message more eloquently and vitally than their brand of warmed over, 2007 sounding stadium indie does.

This is a shame; it seems they desperately want to sound like the new generation of punk bands with a debt to Springsteen, the likes of The Hold Steady, The Gaslight Anthem and Titus Andronicus all crop up in their sound while never echoing the vitality and grace of those bands. The record is somewhat redeemed by some relatively inspiring guitar playing from Jimmy Gilder, but otherwise there is precisely nothing to write home about on this record, which is a crying shame for a band which seems to be made of some particularly switched on guys.

Author: Will Howard