aaamusic | On 18, Feb 2013

Context is a vital thing when it comes to judging a band. Mr Shiraz are a perfect example of this as this album, their second, self-titled effort, is probably one of two different things to one of two different kinds of people. To people coming toward this album knowing nothing about this Huddersfield based quintet this is probably a totally bog standard Rock album, it dips, dives and screams in all the right places and it might be quite palatable for some. However, to people listening to this album who were familiar with Mr Shiraz’s debut album I’m Invincible, I’m Built Like A Sherman Tank, Somebody try and STOP ME, if they’re anything like me, it’ll be a pretty colossal disappointment. It’s not even that they’ve shaved off any semblance of weight or aggression in order to court a mainstream rock audience, it’s actually the complete opposite. Instead of making witty, inventive ska/punk/metal like they did on their utterly cracking single Next Big Story, they’ve turned up not just the heaviness, but also the self-importance and the pomposity that plagues the worst of the current British Rock Scene. It doesn’t sound awful, there’s even some pretty good bits scattered here and there, but it sounds even worse. It sounds boring. Inescapably, inexcusably boring and that smattering of quality I mentioned only highlights the colourlessness of the rest of the album.
I stress that it’s not all bad, but one does get the feeling that while listening to one of the tracks that actually works, like Elephant that actually does hark back to their I’m Invincible… days without feeling forced, that on any other album they’d be filler. The problem starts with the songs but spreads into the vast majority of the record, like the production of it. It falls into the trap most self-recorded records have now, where it sounds clean enough to be sterile but ropey enough not to sound at all professional, of course, this would not be an issue if the songs were good enough, but unfortunately, as I’ve said before, they’re not good enough to distract from it. It gets worse when they try their hand at classic rock and metal tricks like on Kill The Head, that sounds like a dying Hair Metal band desperately trying to sound edgy to survive the grunge wars. In its defence it’s the only outright bad moment on a mostly inoffensive album, but it’s also one of the precious few memorable moments and Mr Shiraz need to take all they can get here.
In total, I can’t recommend this album to anyone except Mr Shiraz’s die-hard fans (I guess they might have them? Anyway…) to anyone else who hasn’t heard of Mr Shiraz this sounds like the kind of rock you’d hear on a party political broadcast trying to appeal to young metalheads, dull, noisy and tuneless. That last one doesn’t necessarily mean there’s no melodies on the album, but I’ll be fucked if I can remember them, ergo, tuneless. To a casual fan of I’m Invincible… I’d advise you stay the hell away, this sounds like a negative of that record, with all the creation and inspiration surgically removed for the sake of sounding a bit like Faith No More. Avoid at all costs.

★★★★★

Will Howard