By DJ Monk

Artwork for #Resist by Calling All AstronautsI must admit, we get sent some complete and utter shite here at ÜRHQ. Some of it is so shite that it clogs the toilet as we try to flush it down the drain, never to be seen or heard again, never again to pollute our sensitive rock ‘n’ roll ears… And this monumental memorial to excrement is down there at the bottom of the shit-stained pile that I’ve had to employ the industrial drain cleaner to remove from our environs.

Now, it’s not our wont to unnecessarily slag off bands, and we usually do like to look for positive points and survey the soundscape for something constructive… but, then again we are the website that prides itself on kicking ass not kissing it, so sometimes we just have to say things as we see them.. or, more accurately, hear them…

And, to be honest, this third album from electro-goth veterans CAA is so fucking anodyne that it’s doused in more disinfectant than an over-stretched intensive care unit – which is exactly where this album dwells, as the heart monitor on each of the 11 patients admitted to the ÜR ward is virtually flatlined throughout. There are a couple of hopeful beeps, such as on the faux-Rammstein mockery of opener ‘The Holy Trinity’, the Numan-esque pop of ‘Rapture’ and the Ministry-style crunch of the opening riff to ‘Reason’, but by and large this is an album on which the prognosis is “conditional critical”.

One for those who long for the days of tripping out to the likes of Joy Division and New Order in a darkened room while high on cheap drugs. As for me? Can I get the last 35 minutes of my life back, please?

  • ‘#Resist’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.

www.facebook.com/CallingAllAstronauts

  • All content © Über Rock.  Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.