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These
rowdy five young lads from Leeds England do things quite right.
And I am actually quite surprised, because judging by their
style, they’ve wasted away dozens of hours listening to some
classics, which really can’t be said about most of today’s
rockers. And is a shame because there is so much one can learn
from the likes of Thin Lizzy for instance, of whom The Plight
has certainly stolen plenty of guitar harmonic tricks. And
stealing is alright you know. Especially, if you use the goods
wisely.
What The Plight has done then is take the dueling
guitars of Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson and has turned them
a bit more violent, confrontational and visceral. They’ve also
sped up the tempo and have placed a vocalist that replaces the
smooth pipes of one Phil Lynott and who has opted for the whole
gargle on crushed glass angle. Then they have paid up for the
tattoos, a must on this day and age, have forgotten to have
three meals a day, have purchased plenty of Small size band
T-shirts and, especially, have paid attention to their music
teachers. Truly, I was expecting The Plight to pummel me with
some hardcore du jour, or maybe even go whiney emo with
hypocritical vocal switches, but I am guessing they know much
better.
At its soft
core The Plight is a rock and roll band, at its half-hard middle
they are somewhere in between the verging on the hysterical
vocalizations of American hardcore throats who were always wise
enough not to step on tough guy theatrics and the
charged-to-the-max drunken rock and roll of early Hellacopters.
At its most outer layer though, these are five energetic
revivalist rockers with a light thing for hardcore. Truly, was
it not for the rough and one-dimensional vocals of plain Al The
Plight would be an entirely different beast. Certainly much more
accessible. The music itself is based around rock and roll
boogey riffs which are played up in hectic fashion.
Black Summer
is a very promising six song EP, but its appeal is quite limited
because of the vocals, which for many will be as appealing as
the sound of a scratch on a blackboard. The best tracks are in
the second half, “Shadow Boxer” lacks hooks, but from then on,
once Al and his minions step into the frenetic “It Only Gets
Worse”, plenty of 'babys' included and all, the speed,
sheer energy (and not including the great Thin Lizzy-like
guitars of “Pull the Trigger“) of the music supersedes the
shortcomings of Al as a real vocalist.
MySpace
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