Challenger - Give People What They Want

  by Dixie Ernill

published: 27 / 3 / 2004

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Review

There has always been a tendency in music to pigeon hole certain types of similar sounding bands and give them a generic label. Many moons ago this was easy with music mainly split between pop and rock. Over time the number of such labels has, howver, multiplied at such a rate it is nigh on impossible to keep up. Accordingly, providing a overview for Lincoln (USA) 3-piece Challenger and their debut LP isn't as simple as it might be. I guess it's a mix of Nu-metal, Emo, Skater-pop and Punk-rock or as it may now become known NESP for short! Offering specific examples will be difficult, because, as a disciple of the C86 - indie-scene, I have never quite been tempted to immerse myself in this predominantly American brand of music. That said, the guitars are loud, which is no bad thing and beneath the noise weaves a genuinely rich melody that runs throughout the LP. The vocals disappoint, in as much as a cross between shouting and singing has never really been my bag, but the style does work well on certain tracks such as the impressive 'Death Museum' and the equally affecting 'Crushed City'. The band Slipknot spring to mind and, whilst I must confess to having only heard a couple of  their tracks, they do sound similar to Challenger. I don't know if Challenger adopt the such a bizarre choice of head-wear when playing live though! If you live in the States, you may well want to check it out as the band are currently touring. All said and done, not a bad opening statement, but perhaps I'm a little too old to be dusting down my skate-board, hiding my face beneath a black hooded top and moshing down the front at a Challenger gig, but don't let that put you off; they may yet nose their way onto a teen movie soundtrack, take MTV by storm and give people what they want in LARGE doses.

Track Listing:-

1 Input The Output
2 Death Museum
3 Blackouts
4 Unemployment
5 This Is Only A Test
6 Brand Loyalty
7 Sweet Vaccine
8 The Angry Engineer
9 Crushed City
10 The Trojan Horse