K Line - How You Gonna Scare Us Now

  by Alex Halls

published: 26 / 3 / 2004

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Review

'How You Gonna Scare Us Now' is the debut album from British punk rockers K-Line and is worth a play or two. Zac Slack (Vocals), Ed Wenn (Guitar), Paul Duncan (Bass), James Sherry (Drums), form the 4-piece that presents the music world with an album that feeds off the past but looks to the future. Noting influences from Black Flag, Fugazi, the Ruts and Dag Nasty, K-Line have taken their shine from quality bands who consistently performed. 'How You Gonna Scare Us Now' won’t make the same impact that the aforementioned bands did, but will reawaken the punk from a pseudo scene. K-Line have embodied that British spirit that seems to be lacking from music. The Americans have it in Sick Of It All amongst others but the Brits have recently been missing out. With their fast-paced guitars and a typically British vocal input, K-Line reminded me of up and coming music of 5 or 6 years ago, in bands such as Jetpak and Understand, who have sadly disappeared: K-Line seem to have enough not to fall foul of the musical grim reaper. K-Line’s music evokes the same feelings in the listener as Hot Water Music, which is no mean feat; taking us back to when music had feeling, animation and substance. 'Money Tree' is by far the most exhilarating track on the album. An attitude comes to the fore, despite a certain level of predictability. It is the explosive opening track, 'The Escape', though which sets the scene for the whole of this album as it is unpredictable, yet carries a mien of making an effort rather than just gritting your teeth and bearing it. What is striking about K-Line is that none of their music feels fake; false through need to succeed, distorted for that larger audience. Its realism affirms it as one of the best British punk rock/hardcore albums to have been released at present. The tuneful parts of 'How You Gonna Scare Us Now' and particulary in 'You Know We Know', are in stark contrast to the blinding hardcore of 'Stoical Souls', giving the listener complementary crunchy and soft layers all in one. Added to this, the grittiness of the guitaring in the introduction to 'Worth More Than A Name' is indicative of talents that will eventually make this band refine their music further, providing that their live sets don't lose out from this. K-Line actually have a sound that works better for live performances rather than recorded material: 6 months of recording whilst continuing to perform live around their London base offer an explanation for this. That is not to say that 'How You Gonna Scare Us Now' doesn't have moments of inspiration as it has this in abundance but is more limited due to the typically punk sounding vocals. K- Line's album grows on you slowly but perhaps too slowly for its own good. It leaves the listener perplexed at whether they like it or not but, positively, it often comes up trumps.

Track Listing:-

1 The Escape
2 Broken Holmes
3 You Know We Know
4 Stoical Souls
5 Count It Down
6 Money Tree
7 Hostage To Finance
8 The Circuit
9 Pax Americana
10 Bikini Black Alpha
11 Worth More Than A Name
12 Full Attention
13 A Forest