Albums

City13 - Better Late Than Never Again

Matt Haigh 02/10/2008

Rating: 0/5

A gander at this band's website tells us they were at first called Pharaoh, but due to another band having the same name, they were forced to re-brand, and came up with the rather unspectacular “City13”. they describe their playing sound as hard-edged punk rock, and claim to be bringing back everything that has been lost in music lately, from “actually singing” to solos. Whether any of them can actually sing is up for debate, as is the question of whether cheesy guitar solos should remain in the 80s where they belong.

The result is music you'd except to hear played over a scene in a film where somebody is doing something reckless. To clarify, imagine those scenes in horror films where all the frat boys are partying in some giant, luxurious house, while generic American rock music blasts from the speakers; if it's not Blink 18-effing-2 playing over that scene, it could just as easily be City13.

There is actually extremely little to distinguish one song from the next on this album. They all blur into each other, a great big cacophony of angry drumming, 80s metal hair-style guitars and emo skater boy vocals. As I sat with my headphones plugged in, thinking of what to type here, I was unaware the tracks had even changed; I was under the impression I'd been listening to one great big twenty-minute epic - at least there would have been something different about the music if that had been the case. The fact that each song follows the exact same template means it is virtually impossible to pick out a highlight or even a lowlight here; the whole album is a lowlight.