Review Summary: do you want to party
I'm not sure why The Blackout called their new album
Start The Party. I
think I know why. In the past, The Blackout have had a slight twist on their otherwise pop-y brand of post hardcore.
The Best In Town was hard hitting and energetic, and
Hope experimented a little more with atmosphere. But
Start The Party has nothing. It’s just boring as-all-hell alt rock; the basics of the genre, the template upon which someone else with creative ideas would then work. When I try to envisage the scenario in which this album was conceived, I imagine the band half-heartedly mashing together the first sung melodies they can think up (making sure 30% of them are gang vocals) or rip off their last album (in parts “Keep Singing” sounds suspiciously similar to ”Ambition Is Critical”), some power chords (to fill the space) and some uninteresting guitar leads (to make the music at least
seem like it has substance) before shoving the end result as quickly as possible through production. Then they realise it’s ***, so they try to squeeze in lyrics about partying and fun(!) to give the false impression of the music being interesting or invigorating. A bit like when you were 12 years old and you’d do your English homework in bubble writing to make it appear more exciting and thought out than the 15 minutes you’d spent on it merited. This is no
Celebration Rock; honestly, if it weren't for the lyrics and that album cover I would never have guessed this was meant to be The Blackout’s ‘party’ album. With suggestions in the past that they aren't even responsible for some of their own music, it’s hard to tell whether they actually give a *** anymore.
