Drenge Album Review
The debut full length release for British duo Rory and Eoin Loveless better known as Drenge was produced by Ross Orton and was released in August 2013, hailing from Castleton in Derbyshire
When you first hear the name Drenge, you know that are not going to be a happy sounding indie guitar band, they are quite the opposite. However the name fits in perfectly with the murky, heavy distorted sound of their debut album.
The album begins with the raucous "people in love make me feel yuck" similar to their name, you know this song is not going to be one to smile at. The song fits their name perfectly, its distorted, with loud screaming vocals, it sounds like an argument between two people that you would see in the early hours of a morning after a few drinks, the way Eoin shouts as if he is trying to escape from something that he truly hates.
The perfect word to describe Drenge would be ruthless. It sounds as if they take absolutely no prisoners at all, "I wanna break you in half" is a song that I can see being used in a film during a fight scene. There are quite a few duo's emerging recently taking influence from the likes of The White Stripes and The Black Keys, but not drenge, judging by this album I would hazard a guess and say that they like some metal music. Definitely heavier stuff than The Black Keys, its almost as if they have taken the idea of being a duo and turned upside down, there may not be a bass on the album but it sounds like there are a full band with them, unlike the early Black Keys stuff which you can tell is only a guitar and drums, and that goes for when Drenge play live too.
"Backwaters" is the first song on the album that instantly grabbed me. It sounds as if Eoin is talking about a past experience or something he has seen, the riff is incredible, it sounds so powerful and the lyrics are dark and describe a scene perfectly. Next up is the bone shattering "Gun Crazy" Which expresses further Eoin's disgust at what he see's in everyday life, the song flows perfectly in to the brilliant "Face Like a Skull" which is my favourite song from the album, the guitar riff is astronomic and throw in some lyrics about rotting flesh and an acknowledgement of sin and it makes for a brilliant song. The next song is almost a spin on a "love song" the fierce power of "I don't want to make love to you" is a song written in anger the constant use of the word "don't" throughout the song signals that Eoin has a built up a wall of anger and rage, and again with dark sounding guitar riffs and thunderous drums draws us in to the world that Eoin see's and it paints a picture in our heads.
The closest the band get to a "Happy" "romantic" song is "Fuckabout" It's a sudden change from the ruthless sound that we have heard from the previous tracks but it stands out on the album purely because it is something different and while it does not possess the bone shaking riffs and angry vocals it does enough to grab your attention and think that maybe there is some beauty in this dark desolate world that Eoin describes.
I highly recommend this album, I know it took me a while to write this review but, I think the album is fantastic and it would have made many top 10 albums of 2013 countdowns!
8/10. Best song - Face Like a Skull
The album begins with the raucous "people in love make me feel yuck" similar to their name, you know this song is not going to be one to smile at. The song fits their name perfectly, its distorted, with loud screaming vocals, it sounds like an argument between two people that you would see in the early hours of a morning after a few drinks, the way Eoin shouts as if he is trying to escape from something that he truly hates.
The perfect word to describe Drenge would be ruthless. It sounds as if they take absolutely no prisoners at all, "I wanna break you in half" is a song that I can see being used in a film during a fight scene. There are quite a few duo's emerging recently taking influence from the likes of The White Stripes and The Black Keys, but not drenge, judging by this album I would hazard a guess and say that they like some metal music. Definitely heavier stuff than The Black Keys, its almost as if they have taken the idea of being a duo and turned upside down, there may not be a bass on the album but it sounds like there are a full band with them, unlike the early Black Keys stuff which you can tell is only a guitar and drums, and that goes for when Drenge play live too.
"Backwaters" is the first song on the album that instantly grabbed me. It sounds as if Eoin is talking about a past experience or something he has seen, the riff is incredible, it sounds so powerful and the lyrics are dark and describe a scene perfectly. Next up is the bone shattering "Gun Crazy" Which expresses further Eoin's disgust at what he see's in everyday life, the song flows perfectly in to the brilliant "Face Like a Skull" which is my favourite song from the album, the guitar riff is astronomic and throw in some lyrics about rotting flesh and an acknowledgement of sin and it makes for a brilliant song. The next song is almost a spin on a "love song" the fierce power of "I don't want to make love to you" is a song written in anger the constant use of the word "don't" throughout the song signals that Eoin has a built up a wall of anger and rage, and again with dark sounding guitar riffs and thunderous drums draws us in to the world that Eoin see's and it paints a picture in our heads.
The closest the band get to a "Happy" "romantic" song is "Fuckabout" It's a sudden change from the ruthless sound that we have heard from the previous tracks but it stands out on the album purely because it is something different and while it does not possess the bone shaking riffs and angry vocals it does enough to grab your attention and think that maybe there is some beauty in this dark desolate world that Eoin describes.
I highly recommend this album, I know it took me a while to write this review but, I think the album is fantastic and it would have made many top 10 albums of 2013 countdowns!
8/10. Best song - Face Like a Skull
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