The Amazons – The Amazons

Alternative Rock | Indie Rock

59%

All music fans have a “list”, composed of bands and artists that you plan on listening to but somehow never seem to get around to it. With all the massive hype surrounding them, all the many times I’ve heard them mentioned, The Amazons resided squarely at the top of my list, bold, circled and surrounded by arrows. I now find myself crossing them off with a deep sense of disappointment. Despite the striking album artwork, the band’s eponymous debut fails to make a good first impression. It’s very much a paint by numbers affair, crafted using a tired indie formula. There are no risks here, nothing that can be considered bold, or new, or exciting, and as such there are little rewards for your time.

Opening track ‘Stay With Me’ has hints of Catfish and the Bottlemen’s The Ride, while ‘Burn My Eyes’ has a riff reminiscent of Courtney Barnett’s ‘Pedestrian At Best’ and boasts the record’s biggest hooks. The uninspired lyrics for ‘Junk Food Forever’ verge on The Vaccines levels of awkward clichés, however the stripped down closing track ‘Palace’ makes for an excellent change of pace after ten tracks that are all much of a muchness. I struggle to think of many recently hyped acts whose debut albums have lived up to expectations, and this plots perfectly on that trend. To give them the benefit of the doubt, the hype has surely come from their live performances, interacting with eager crowds and spreading the word. Sadly that live energy has not translated to this first record. The Amazons have a lot of ground to cover after this false start, but there’s no reason why they can’t learn from their mistakes and come out on top with future releases.