|
Another week, another release slides off the Copro
production line. Having been privy to the previous two, and now this, Fony's
sophomore effort, we have a winner. Yes, Fony take the biscuit - by a
mile.
The young quintet have delivered one of the most
original albums by a nu rock band in years. With this in mind, the prolific
five (who only formed three years ago) were probably doing some forward
thinking about their sound, so when it came to choosing a name, Fony is a
pretty accurate irony to blemish onto an unexpecting world.
Nu metal might be sagging more quickly than Arnold
Schwarzenegger's muscles, but Fony - who are anything but - are confidently
striding into a musical soundscape which has very little to do with either
cod teenage angst or neanderthal thuggery.
Raised on a mixed diet of
prevalent early '90s grunge, hardcore, and alt rock (Jane's
Addiction and Tool are among the influences listed), Fony
are a rare element of the generation who have compiled these disparate
genres into their own sound.
This is none more so than on Emeritus, a grunge-core
anthem commanded by Olly Gibbons' stunning vocal scope. One second Matt
Bellamy (Muse), the next, throat-scalding hardcore. But it's the
ethereal metamorphosis in the song, and indeed across the album, which Fony
deserve acclaim for.
The emo-core on Satire For The World (with Gibbons
eerily hollering as Matt Bellamy v2.0) is the ultimate oxymoron for what's
to come - the brittle, riff-driven intensity of Strobe and the innovative Black
Widows And A film Noir. This is a non-conformist emulsifying of rigid hardcore,
with the elegant sedated moments of Jeff Buckley and Jane's
Addiction.
There's also a surprise early on with track four, Helium - a
layered, post-grunge acoustic ballad that ex-Alice In
Chains man Jerry Cantrell would cheerily acknowledge.
That said, Circles is not a flawless, groundbreaking
masterpiece (which is still well overdue in terms of nu rock). Indeed, the
title track's languid instrumental refrain (just shy of six minutes) is
uncomfortably lodged between a couple of hardcore opuses, the latter of which (I
Mar The Chance) is susceptible to some hardcore overindulgence.
The boys manage to recompose themselves for the home
straight, with January Zen (a reference to Jane's Addiction's vintage Pigs
In Zen?) a mystic hardcore romp and surely a candidate for the next single.
While Fony may at times appear to be pouring over a
sound they can lay claim to, their teetering between one sound to the next
makes them an exciting prospect and bodes well for album number three.
This is recommended for nu rock and hardcore fans looking for
a breath of fresh air. My money's on album number three doing for Fony what
White Pony did for the Deftones.
Well, maybe...
Comments
|
 |
| 
more 
