The Adjectives-Bam!

I always told myself that I didn’t want to write a review on anything when I couldn’t be completely positive.  I had a bit of a change of heart today.  I was reading Dying Scene’s Sacred Cow column today and today they were discussing Rancid’s…And Out Come the Wolves.  I read both sides, and I wanted to attack the guy who disputed the album’s greatness.  Then I came to my senses.  The one thing about punk music that other genres don’t have is fans who are passionate enough about the music to actually discuss what constitutes real greatness.  I will often read reviews of new albums, but I won’t always take what is said to heart.  That is another beautiful thing about punk rock, it promotes critical thinking and making your own decisions. 

That brings me to The Adjectives debut album, Bam! The Belgian group’s offering is comprised of 10 tracks and comes in at under 14 minutes in length.  It is like something out of Mall’d to Death’s playbook, almost.  The longest track runs about 2:30, and the shortest track about 10 seconds.  But while Mall’d to Death is quite skilled at making the most out of their songs and never really leaving the listener wanting more, The Adjectives need a little work on this. 

Bam!‘s opening track “Bulgarian Pancakes” is probably the band’s finest melody and could have made a great song, but it ends as just a short instrumental.  While others are longer and more complete, they still lack the impact that you would want or expect out of songs that are so short.  But there is an upside, the songs most powerful track, “Fuck You” is just ten seconds long and in all of its simplicity gets straight to the point and gets it across quite clear. 

The album’s title, Bam!, seems to imply that the listener will be hit hard and quick.  While it is quick, I wouldn’t say it hits hard.  This is a debut album, so these young men can do a lot more, and I think that if they follow the formula they have, they will.

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