A vibrant, aggressive, melodic and memorable album.
Wow, I was absolutely miles off with my first impression of this band! Without a press release to accompany the album, the look of the artwork and the photo on the back made me guess that Peepshow were a metal band from Sweden or Finland. I put the album on, and the atmospheric intro track 'Wake Up Call' is a dark and brooding slice of instrumental menace, with audio from TV news reports mixed in - and then 'Let Go' kicks in, which is a keyboard dotted rocker with a hard edged guitar sound. I'd probably file it more like modern rock than metal, but it's definitely more melodic than some nu-metal bands I have heard. Then I check out the band's website and discover they are Scottish. That will teach me to judge an album by their cover!
Peepshow have honed their craft on the live stage, after supporting bands like Crashdiet, Backyard Babies and Duff McKagan's Loaded, and frankly I could see their brand of contemporary yet melodic rock going down well with all those fanbases - indeed, Peepshow song writer Johnny Gunn co-wrote with Crashdiet on 'Generation Wild'. 'Live Free Or Die' has a relentless rampage of guitars, nicely offset by a memorable and anthemic chorus. The production is crystal clear, allowing vocalist Gunn to soar above the superb lead guitar work of Rusty Gill and the crunching rhythm playing of Dagan, underpinned by the pounding bass of Hex and Hammy's drum work.
'Trouble' is another riff heavy beast with a classic chorus that you can sing along with after one listen. The more ethereal 'Only A Dream' with it's lush keyboard effects adds a nice element of light to the record, before the heads down rocker of 'All Or Nothing' picks the pace up again. I love the guitar sound on this album and I have to applaud the band for the way they have meshed that tone with a modern production sound, without sacrificing the synths and keyboards or the huge choruses.
The band has enough elements of their own sound and look, along with enough quality, to stand out from the crowd. There's a wealth of strong material on this album, all well produced and written. In fact, that would probably be my only criticism - at fourteen songs, the album runs at almost an hour, which I pointed out in another review is just a bit too long for me. I think losing a couple of the rockier tracks (of which there are many) would have made for a sleeker and more varied record which would have left the listener just wanting to hear a little more. Other than that, Peepshow have to be commended for a vibrant, aggressive, melodic and memorable album. Visit their site www.peepshowonline.co.uk to hear a song for free and judge for yourself!
James Gaden
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