Albums

Gods Of Blitz - Stolen Horse

Mike Caulfield 03/09/2006

Rating: 3/5

Indie-rockers, Gods of Blitz deliver a debut that's packed with quick and to-the-pointless numbers that recall class 2001 casualties The Vines, and more recently Nine Black Alps.

With “lyrical and vocal” support from The Strokes producer, Gordon Raphael, Stolen Horse is thirty-five minutes of hook crammed, precise pop punk. The band don't even attempt to do anything slightly stretching musically, tracks rarely pass over the three minute mark, with the closest they get to anything remotely epic is closing number 'My Time Isn't Up', which still only clocks in at a pop-tastic three minutes twenty-four seconds, not that there is anything wrong with that.

'Generation Goodbye' kicks things off in a loud and frenzied fashion, jagged guitar lines criss-cross over a start and stop, jerky rhythm, with many of the album exercising this formula to various degrees of success. Standout track, and obvious single choice, The Rising fuses this contempory influence with more of a classic rock feel and manages to work quite well, however on the occasions when it doesn't work, they manage to sound like a derivative version of tequila loving tykes, Terrorvision.

Whilst every track aims to be a pogo and air-guitar inducing rocker the bands energy doesn't always translate through the polished production. These are defiantly songs that are better suited to a live environment, played by a group that have been travelling around in a cramped splitter van for the best part of a year, surviving on ten minutes sleep a night, to a room of sweaty beer-fuelled students and aging rockers.

So in the end Stolen Horse sounds very one sided, with too many of the tracks lacking variation and very few hints at a progression beyond the pop-punk formula that has been a radio and MTV staple for the past fifteen years. But if you are looking for something to keep you happy until Nine Black Alps release their follow up, then Gods of Blitz could be the band for you.