It’s funny how one band can change the face of music and have a major impact on the influences of an entire music scene that was provisionally deriving from. Many bands have come and gone that have done that, the Beatles for one, Black Sabbath another and in more modern times, Nirvana were probably one of, if not the last to have a major impact on a grand scale. The funny thing though is very rarely were there bands that actually sounded like Nirvana, the influences were there in many bands but the signature sound and style of Nirvana was pretty unique to that band only. But the reason I bring it up is because I recently came across one band where for the first time I felt there was a strong similarity between the two, namely Atlanta noise makers Pretty Please.
The band’s bio states that they manage to mix noise rock and sludge with a chaotic, dissonant punk, while still keeping melody in mind. I agree although the biggest difference between Nirvana and these guys is the melody, or lack thereof I should say. That’s not a negative comment or anything, it’s simply what differentiates the two and the poppish chorus lines that the grunge legends were known for are less in appearance in Pretty Please and that’s where the other styles come in. Modern sounds might be more in line with Red Fang, Crowbar, Weezer but there’s an old school punk mentality here too, the simplistic overtones and song structures overladen with real grungy and raw sounds gives it a little more uniqueness and the Nirvana comparisons start to slowly strip away.
The songs on this fourth album release “Fur Model” range from sludgey to catchy punk, doomy atmospheres and thrashy chuggs. You will hear Nirvana straight out of the gates on opening tracks “Lowered Expectations” and the familiar sounding “It Pays To Complain” but eventually you start hearing more of their other influences as you pick the songs apart.
The more off beat songs like “Greatest Hits” and the closing “God Has A Plan” doesn’t sway you like the more energetic songs and so the focus tends to be on more uptempo numbers – “Hot Car Death” is raucious and gutsy with a bit of thrashy punk goodness while the chugger that is “I’m Glad You’re Dead” drives you along nicely. The modern alternative rock sound, much derived from the original grunge sound of the late 80’s and early 90’s relies heavily, sometimes too much, on the dynamic between softer versus and harder anthemic chorus lines. Much of that strangely isn’t found here aside from a few moments like in “Valentine” which I’m glad about. It’s a boring and generic staple that has overwelcomed it’s stay in modern rock tunes.
“Fur Model” may not blow you away with any significant new sound here, it’s a pretty familiar affair but the one thing that will catch your attention is it’s ability to hook you in with it’s raw and punk like sound while at the same time, bring a sense of nostalgia to that early 90’s grunge.
TRACKLIST
Lowered Expectations
It Pays To Complain
Milk Steak
Greatest Hits
Valentine
I’m Glad You’re Dead
Hot Car Death
Vulsella
God Has A Plan
