By Jim Rowland
Formed by Jackie ‘Jax’ Chambers, of legendary ÜK rockers Girlschool, alongside Argentine siblings Julia and Pablo Calvo, and Steph Dawson, Yorkshire-bred punky pop rockers Syteria have just unleashed their third long player ‘Syteria World’, hoping to build on the strong reception the band’s first two albums earned.
The likes of ‘Chasing Dreams’, ‘Breaking Through’, ‘It’s A Mess’ and ‘Pause For Peace (Silent Minute)’ are solid slices of up tempo, catchy pop/rock, ‘Monsters’ and ‘Remember Me’ are mid-tempo anthemic rockers, with the harder rock of ‘Empty’ really the only one to veer in the direction of Jackie Champers’ other band Girlschool.
Pick of the bunch for me are the bouncy and very catchy ‘It Hit Me’ and the fast, punk-infused ‘Raise Your Glass’, full of catchy guitar and sax hooks. For me, the album could probably benefit from one or two more tunes in that fast, punky direction. Elsewhere, ‘Nine To Nine’ is another quality tune in the harder direction with a bit of a grunge flavour to it.
The CD comes with two extra bonus tracks – the hard rock groove of ‘Talk Too Much’ and a fun and faithful cover of the Ramones classic ‘Rockaway Beach’. ‘Syteria World’ is a good fusion of pop/rock with a punky twist, full of catchy hooks and well written songs. Lyrically, it has something to say too, tackling quite a few social issues of the day.
- ‘Syteria World‘ is out now.
- Syteria play The Black Heart in Camden on Sunday (27 August) and then NWOCR LiveFest 2 at KK’s Steel Mill in Wolverhampton on Sunday 24 September.
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