The first thing you notice about the new album by 5 POUNDS A HEAD is an intro that reminds me a lot of the intro of the CD “Schizo” by De Heideroosjes. However, it doesn’t go in the direction of punk rock like the Dutch band; instead, it delivers a full-on slap. Hectic old-school hardcore blasts from the speakers. It’s not that bad until the singer starts. He sounds like an angry duck. I’ve rarely heard vocals that sound like “Quack, Quack, Quack.” In the first few seconds, I thought someone was parodying hardcore, but he keeps going. It’s a strange thing. Is it supposed to be like this, or did the mixer really mess up?
Let’s wait for the other songs from the band from Rossleben. After all, the band has been around since 2005. There must be more to come than this, although it must be said that the lyrics of the song are very good, but the vocals are something quite unique.
Even the second song “Eastside” gets better. Here, a wildly thrashing drum drives an angry band that turns the song into a solid piece. Stylistically, it falls somewhere between newschool and oldschool. The quacking vocals are less prominent, replaced by nice guitar solos.
The rough garb of hardcore continues, which even comes across as quite refreshing upon longer listening, especially when you consider all the glossy productions that are thrown onto the market almost daily. From this perspective, this release by 5 POUNDS A HEAD is a welcome change.
Of course, one can tell that the production sounds almost 10 years old, but for hardcore kids, that’s better than any sticker shit you’ve sewn onto your backpacks, and secondly, this is DIY!! The band recorded and produced the whole album themselves.
In this context, it’s a pretty fine piece of work.
The only disturbing element I find is the quacking vocals in some songs, which, however, don’t appear too often, and since the band doesn’t just have one singer, it balances out.
5 POUNDS A HEAD have released an album with “Maximum Credible Accident” that you have to listen to at first, but then it reveals more and more of its splendor.
