The Other Side have been about since around 2009 they are made up of Kirby on Vocals/Lead Guitar, Sned on Guitar, Pepe on Bass and Budgie on Drums. Together they put out their first album, Catch the Sun back in 2011 with a follow up in 2012 called Don’t Piss Down my Back (and Tell me It’s Raining) and a third called ‘Can you see it Coming’. All strong entries but today I’m going to be talking about ‘The Final Straw.
‘Left Right’ opens with a warning horn sounding, it immediately builds suspense and anticipation for the track, especially when the guitars come in, obscuring but not quite covering up the alarm noise which becomes a backdrop to the intro to this track. Speaking of guitars they are phenomenal in this track. This can only be described as classic, classic what you might ask, just classic. I could see this track coming from any point in rock history. Its timeless and just as good now as it ever will be.
‘No Sleep’ starts off with an amazing riff and percussion interaction, they both play off each other so well, then the vocals kick in and raise everything up a notch. This song has an intensity that the last track didn’t but, that takes nothing away from the last track, the energy present in this one is perfect for this track. I bet this track is also amazing performed live, and it’d certainly have the room on their feet. I usually make terrible puns when they occur to me, for this I was thinking, like this song gets the blood pumping, there’d be no sleep for days. But I feel like I’ve grown as a writer.
‘Zero Hours’ is a heavier track, all deep thrumming guitars and drums and bass, all melded together perfectly. Another song with lots of energy and beat, this song feels a little more american than the rest, not a criticism by the way but just something about it has an american swing to it, but maybe that’s just me. This is another track that’s transfer well to a live performance, I get the feeling that’ll be true of all The Other Side’s songs.
‘The Wall’ certainly hit a slow point on the album but not a dip in quality, this song started off with a relatively mellow fusion of vocals and instruments, it picked up a little as the track went on but never quite reached the same levels as the previous tracks. It was a welcome change though because the change in pacing meant you really heard this track, the danger with maintaining a consistent energy and rhythm rather than going up and down is that it melds into each other after a while, so this track ‘The Wall’ breaks things up nicely and creates a nice bridge between the first three tracks and the final three tracks.
‘The Mirror’ brings things back up again, but changes the style a little, I wouldn’t say that this and ‘Zero hours’ for instance were similar track, I mean superficially they are but I can hear a distinct difference in tone and execution and it really shows what these guys can do. This track also does a really good job of showing how well the band work together, and its not just one thing either it’s just listening to it as a whole, with the rest of the tracks behind it you can hear how well these guys work together.
‘Nothing Goes Forward’ changes things up again, its faster and has more build to it, I’d rock out to this track more than the others, ignore the terminology by the way I’m not a cool guy. I Like this track, it might be a personal favourite on the album, it another great and classic example of bluesy rock. The vocals, the instruments all of it working together with a unity that’s admirable.
‘The Final Straw’ is the title track of the album and so a certain weight is on it to be strong otherwise it lets the album down, but I feel it manages that weight successfully. It reminds me a little of the music that The Mighty Boosh make, just an ethereal, rock ballad and it works really well. It also slows things down again, and shows once again the expert pacing demonstrated by this band. It closes out the album well and leaves you wanting more at the same time.
That’s what I Thought of The Other Side and their Album ‘The Final Straw’ and if you want to check it out then visit their website and you can also follow the band on Facebook as well.
First Published on: https://offtherecordblog.org/
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