aaamusic | On 04, Mar 2012

Baddies are a prime example of the way that clinging to closely to a style can undo all the hard work a talented band does. There is no denying that they have talent coming out of their ears, this, the second album from the Southend quartet, is a riot of synths, city levelling bass and wrecking ball guitars controlled by a ferociously tight band that brings to mind a synth pop Queens Of The Stone Age. They do what they do well, the problem we have here is that if you took the vocals out of these songs, there would be very, very little difference between each of the ten on offer. If I’m honest, the songs are good, but what smarts is the idea that if Baddies were to branch out of their comfort zone, they could get onto something very special indeed.

 

Beyond that there isn’t much else to say, there are some absolute stormers here, second track Man Made Man is a burst of absolute joy that sounds like an alternate universe Future Of The Left where they’re the worlds biggest pop group. First single Bronto follows this formula closely, with a gloriously stupid chorus tailor made to shout along to at some inner city sweat pit of a venue. The problem is that even though these songs sound similar, they definitely differ in quality, how this might be stumps me. Some just don’t seem as energetic as the others, in fact the whole second half would drag for a lot longer than it should if it wasn’t for Bronto rearing its head as the penultimate song on the album. Centurion in particular smacks of compromise, as if the band wanted to write a straight up slow song but couldn’t bring themselves to commit to it, leading to a very awkward mix of a shout along hook over a song that can’t decide whether it’s slow or building up to a frantic climax.

 

Closing track Star Surfing works much better and is for all intents and purposes the summation of this rather frustrating album. If Baddies let themselves explore what they could do, they could, and probably would be, damn good. Something quite special even. Unfortunately they have a comfort zone, something they admittedly can do better than anyone else in the world, but can’t seem to stretch it over the course of an album. As it is this is a record of ups and downs, the ups are a lot more fun than is strictly necessary and the downs are just dull, but they just about get away with it. Recommended.

 

Will Howard