Album Review: Eight Rounds Rapid - "Love Your Work"

 

Existing in a weird area where the cut and thrust of pub rock meets the icy steel of post-punk, Canvey Island's Eight Rounds Rapid are certainly an intriguing proposition. Having broken on to the scene in 2013 with the patchy but promising Lossleader album, they really hit their stride with 2017's Objet d'Art which had me anticipating this, their third effort, with some excitement.

The sly humour of You Wait (seemingly about pretending you're not in when someone you don't like tries to call you) eases you in gently before the spiky riff and shouted vocals of Passive Aggressive kick this one into gear properly like a white knuckle ride down the A127 with the police on your tail before crashing to a halt in a wail of feedback with what sounds like two wide boys arguing over a bank job gone wrong. The low-slung boogie of Love Don't adds a bit more melodicness into the equation although the high-pitched vocals take a bit of getting used to on this one. Thankfully Letter drags things back on track with a moody bass-led sound which sees the band doing their trademark "Dr Feelgood meets PIL" sound with aplomb. The schizophrenic nature of their sound is reinforced again when the Lydon style sarcastic drone of Future Estates gives way to the low-slung boogie of Black Tide and Tricks.

If I have a slight complaint about Love Your Work, it's that it feels a bit more disjointed than Objet d'Art did - I can't quite put my finger on it but somehow the songs on that record did seem to hold together slightly better as a whole than the ones here do. But it's still a good effort from the angular strut of Eating to the almost psychedelic Mirror which shows a hitherto unseen side to their output and maybe shows something they could explore a little more on future releases. 

Overall while it's not quite up to the standard of Objet d'Art, Love Your Work is still a strong effort from Eight Rounds Rapid with plenty to enjoy on it. You can download it and stream a couple of tracks on the group's Bandcamp page.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑🌑 (7/10)

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