Albums

Undercut - Something To Die For

Clark Summers 11/07/2005

Rating: 2/5

The Undercut are “unique” y'know if you believe the press release that accompanies this release. This fact seems to be contradicted somewhat by the fact they sound like every other bland commercial stadium rock act ever invented. Seriously. Take for example debut single “Soul Food Mother”, the guitars are set to the epic dial but it's all rather redundant sounding when you're churning out the kind of songs Feeder would use to pad out a B-sides collection. It's not that the ensemble playing on this record is particularly bad - “Holding On” is a reasonable pastiche of The Police and “Coming Down” is a suitably downbeat ballad and the finest track on offer - it's just that “Something To Die For” is bereft of ambition, originality and perhaps most importantly any memorable hooks let alone tunes. The spectre of the “tantric one” is in fact near unavoidable across the whole LP and not simply because of the sound-a-like vocals. The arrangements and the flawless production from Ian Grimble recall the peroxide trio at their most unadventurous. No doubt if this record were dressed up and marketed to mid-thirtysomethings who are desperately waiting for a new Sting album it would catapult the band into the stadiums they so desperately want to play. Unfortunately for the band the chances of this happening are very slim indeed. In a world full of Coldplay clones and stadium rock pretenders Undercut are quite simply surplus to requirements.