The Landing

The band formerly known as Bloom seem to have picked up a harder sound along with the change of moniker. The Landing, the debut album from the Dublin trio, has more serrated edges than a box of throwing stars.

Opener ‘War’ is all coarse guitar riffs, pummelled basslines and pounding drums, with Daniel Johnson’s voice coming across the top like he’s been overdoing it on the fags and whiskey – that level of screamingly loud vocals can’t be good for his throat. The guitar sound is refreshingly raw and potent, without ever straying into metal territory, while they keep a firm enough grip on the melody to maintain interest.

‘Daybreak’ has echoes of the Eddie Vedders about it, the fuzzed-up guitars forming a perfect counterfoil to Johnson’s throaty rasp, without entering the realms of self-parody. The singer proves that he can do a mean falsetto on tracks like the bass-driven ‘Dance MF’ – the MF stands for motherfucker, incidentally – a song that sees the band branching out somewhat from the rock trio template. The simple guitar and vocals of ‘Vertigo’ seems strangely out of place, however, and comes across a little bit too self-pitying and whiny to actually like, while the epic ‘Heaven Sent’ is a too over-wrought for its own good.

At their best, Kopek come across like a grittier Muse (‘God Speed’), while their less inspired moments sound disturbingly like a mediocre Pearl Jam tribute act (‘Follow’, ‘Unrequited’). They are not ready to turn the music world on its head yet, but there is enough here to suggest that with a little more time spent on crafting their songs, Kopek could be a force to be reckoned with.