Review Summary: Rock'n'roll you've heard before? T'be sure!
It’s time for the world to discover The Answer. However, in order to do this, one would suppose we’d have to figure out the question. In this instance, the question seems to be a two-part: “Are you ready to ROCK? I SAID, ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?”. Yes, the Northern Irish quartet give you an amps-up-to-11 set of both kinds of music – rock AND roll – on their second album,
Everyday Demons. Unlike similar “classic rock revival” acts of recent years, The Answer don’t suck arse entirely. Having said that,
Everyday Demons is best described as patchy, inconsistent; with an imbalance of fun highlights and complete dross.
The premise of what The Answer do is pretty simple – it’s hard rock with an occasional delta blues tinge to it, which owes more than its fair share to rock gods of yesteryear. At times, the retro-rock influences are far too strong- vocalist Cormac Neeson steals a vocal melody or three from touring buddies AC/DC’s “Rock & Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” for “Cry Out”, whilst guitarist Paul Mahon does his darndest to ape the riffs and licks of his guitar gods (albeit not very successfully). The band’s turn into ballad territory doesn’t do them many favours either. “Pride” fails to work even on an ironic basis, sounding more like Foreigner than Acca Dacca; whilst “Comfort Zone” is worthy of a modern-day Axl Rose in all his cornrow glory. Whilst it’s admirable for a hard rock band such as themselves to try and turn things down a notch, they really would have been better off trying a bluesier approach to the matter.
Even still, there’s fun to be had. It’s the upbeat, hook-laden numbers like opener “Demon Eyes” and “Walkin’ Mat” that will grab any rock fan’s attention- well produced and structured, the passion that the band put into this sound shines through and even dodgy lyrics like “Leave all the cocaine in my room, baby” are easily ignored with a good headbang. Tracks such as these on Everyday Demons are pure fun, and are great for releasing your inner Wayne Campbell.
Sadly, however, that’s all the band seem to be useful for at this stage of their career – their inspirers hold much more bearing in the Answer’s music than they deserve. Whilst the band have learned a thing or two about rocking arenas around the world opening for AC/DC on their Black Ice World Tour, they’re definitely not capable to take on such ambitions just yet. There’s definitely a market for The Answer, but don’t act surprised when people don’t respond so enthusiastically to the question.
