Music
25 Mar 02

Hi Fi Serious

It's well-honed with lots of carefully controlled energy, great dynamics from the band with raspy vocals from Jason Perry, high-velocity riffs, power-chords a-plenty, intricate Halenesque guitar and good harmonies.

A have been slogging it out for a few years now with no notable success outside America. This is about to change with the release of Hi Fi Serious.

Sounding like Blink 182 with Sting and Perry Farrell dividing vocal duties with songs about how nice Palm Springs is (‘Palm Springs’), the Dennis Wilson-inspired ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ and terrorist paranoia (‘Going Down’).

There are 12 potential singles on this album – every one blessed with easy listening qualities. It’s positively made for MTV with its undemanding, AOR based, straight-down-the-line soft metal qualities.

Thankfully, their lyrical clownery has dissipated somewhat and they’re putting a bit more thought into the words. It isn’t, however, too hard to improve on “the old folks are losers, they can’t work computers!”

It’s well-honed with lots of carefully controlled energy, great dynamics from the band with raspy vocals from Jason Perry, high–velocity riffs, power-chords a-plenty, intricate Halenesque guitar and good harmonies.

It makes for laid-back listening – set squarely in the middle of the rock’n’roll road, and should appeal to younger listeners, and anyone who likes non-threatening, tuneful highway music. It’ll probably be huge.