Cars On Fire – ‘Dig Your Own Grave’ (Undergroove Records)
CD Reviews
Written by Gaz E
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 00:20
Bristol based noiseniks Cars On Fire stake their claim for future rock greatness with mini-album ‘Dig Your Own Grave’ and, you know what, they might just have a chance of smashing in a window of opportunity within the already fractured business of entertainment.
‘Dig Your Own Grave’ was produced by Jason Wilcox (The Ghost Of A Thousand; Senser; Reuben) and – good work, fella – sounds great. The Refused and Helmet get name checked in reference to Cars On Fire but the fashionable music press dub this ‘post-hardcore’ – I really fucking hate using terms like that…..so I won’t.
Opener ‘Burn The Suits’ gives the listener the chance to absorb the band’s mix of big riffs and melancholic melody, with a great big hook thrown in there for good measure, before ‘Sharks’ amplifies these qualities and turn them into a song born of several severe styles. ‘Hall Of Skeletons’, ‘The Antagonist’, ‘Work Horse’ – cool songs that mix furious guitar work, a typically British sounding vocal delivery – think the aforementioned Reuben – and anthemic chorus shoutalongs.
My only complaint with the band comes wrapped up in a song called ‘Modus Operandi’; what begins as a Cancer Bats sounding belter and produces a moody and really very cool hook, suddenly turns into a formulaic foray into You Me At Six-style tween friendly pop melody line territory. It is, thankfully, very brief but this fashionable vocal will date the song – in fact, that style already sounds incredibly dated. The band’s trademark clashing of styles means that there is enough quality in the song to salvage my attention, but this is a style that they really don’t need. Rub it out and we have some serious contenders for the next big British band.