Review Summary: GIVE ME MY HOOK!
'Something Global' is the best song ever written.
It doesn't even
mean anything and, granted, it's
probably not, but I dare you to find it within you while the opening track of
Golden Medallion is screaming and stomping from your stereo that it isn't
the best song in the fucking world. Such is the power of Irish electro-punk maniacs Fight Like Apes to immerse their captive audience underneath the waves of reckless abandon and smirk-inducing quips; so much music is called
energetic but I fucking dare you to use that term with such liberal disrespect after just one listen of
Medallion.
Because of the very few bands who could even get away with an 8-second burst of chaos like 'Megameanie' two-thirds of the way through their debut LP, even fewer would find it possible to argue that it didn't even disrupt the album. That's why 'Something Global's blistering chorus screams, 'give me my hook!' - it's the album's way of just, you know, warning you for what's about to come. Because even when the volume of the synths hits a lowly 9 out of 11, even then, Fight Like Apes are a thousand times more dynamic than most of their peers, and when it strikes maximum, it's a positively orgasmic experience.
The great thing about
Medallion is that while it essentially is devoid of meaning - very few lines even make a whole lot of sense, and of those only a handful appear to carry 'importance' - that doesn't stop the aggressive sections of a song like 'Jake Summers' from being angry as hell, or 'Do You Karate?' sounding overwrought with desparation.
Medallion is never truly mindless, which is to say that even when it entirely loses itself,
itself alone is enough to steer the ship into cardiac arrest territory; these impulsive harmonies might have their fists clenched, but they know what they're aimed at.
Plenty of bands make claims to being
instinctive but
Medallion, turned up loud, drowns them out at a canter. At points it's hilariously crude (there is no foreshadowing within the first 3 tracks of 'Digi***er's 'and did you stick things up her?!) but these things are ultimately the most endearing thing about Fight Like Apes; in the midst of their cyclone, they appear wholly unedited, unrestricted, and
seriously unpredictable. Which makes it weird that what's contained on
Medallion is essentially a set of really loud and obnoxious pop songs, hyperactive to the very bone. It's the way they play those chords with such joyous revelry that makes Fight Like Apes' debut record a must-have.
