Deadline - Take a Good Look
by Alex Halls
published: 7 / 3 / 2007
Label:
People Like You
Format: CD
intro
Edgy-sounding, political-in-tone fourth album from London-based hardcore punks, Deadline
'Take a Good Look' is Deadline’s fourth full-length record and a distinct improvement from third release, 'Getting Serious' , both of which, like all their releases, have come out People like You Records. The female-fronted, London five-piece currently lines up as: Liz (vocals); Hervé (bass); Lee guitar); Pascal (drums); Ryan (guitar). Two Frenchman, you exclaim? It appears so! Not quite the British band you were expecting after all. As if that makes any difference! Deadline have assuredly stepped up their game for this record. Alongside the faultless guitars are chillingly perfect harmonies, clear to see in 'Keep On Running' and the fabulous 'Don’t You Think', a track that regally exists in its role as the album’s finest. With short offerings, 'I Won’t Give' and 'All I Ever Wanted', the edgier Deadline sound is provided, and makes the most of the band’s varied influences, within which hardcore is listed in the form of Sick of It All and other, less in focus bands. 'Round the Corner' pertinently describes the state of some of today’s kids, hanging round the streets with nothing but trouble as their form of entertainment. This perhaps marks the most obvious of the fourteen tracks in presenting its message, but further references to society’s failings are present throughout the record. 'Give it Back' details the struggle to survive when money is scarce whilst '1975' provides a look at how far Liz has come in twenty years, from a council flat to her own bed and breakfast. It’s this historical climate, from which punk originated, that gives Deadline, and their lead singer, a certain sharpness over most of the newcomers to the scene. Even so, 'Take a Good Look' is very much a positive album on a musical front with its numerous melodic refrains. It has real sparkle, where even the part-ballad, 'Moving Lines', concludes the record in exactly this optimistic fashion. Four albums in and Deadline have got it right. There’s not a single song to criticise. Look out for them in April on their forthcoming tour; kicking off in….. Grimsby! You only get this in the punk scene. Brilliant!
Track Listing:-
1 Blood On Your Hands2 Give It Back
3 1975
4 Pretences
5 Do You Think?
6 Keep On Running
7 I Won't Give
8 Take a Good Look
9 Hey You!
10 Round the Corner
11 Hold On Me
12 Excuses
13 All I Ever Wanted
14 Moving Lines
reviews |
More to It Than Meets the Eye (2007) |
Solid but mildly disappointing new album from London-based punks Deadline, which does not quite live up to the expectations met by its predecessor 'Take A Good Look' |
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