Varsovie : " Coups Et Blessures"

This French punk band is not just a bunch of brat yelling"one, two, three.. go!". Post-punk might fit, though they are more punk than atmospheric. The opener eventually finds one of the guitarist playing a Cure like melody. It's going to take a little more than that they are more than punk. After all the Cure's first album was punk. My first hunch was right as they play an even more straightforward version of punk on the second song. After this they relax a little more into something more like indie rock, the vocals are a spoken narrative. Why is this indie rock and not post-punk you ask ? Because it's neither dark or tense. By "Killing Anna" the songs begin to run together for me. The vocals tend to fall flat on me , but the guitar tone is pretty cool I like when they accent things with the almost more metallic edge in the distortion.

"Intersections" finds the pace picking up. I like this one as it reminds me of early New Model Army. Things . "Discipline" keeps the albums momentum moving it in a better direction. Still in the kind of New Model Army neighborhood. New Model Army of course being punk before they broaden their horizons. "Feux" reminds me more of the Pixies as far as the guitar playing goes than anything related to Joy Division. This album reminds me of early punk that was much more infused with rock n roll, than trying to rush through hurried temper tantrums. Kids ...and adult less educated musically might only think of punk as something that sounds like Pennywise or NOFX. In that case they might not find this album to be punk enough for them.

It's the vocals that are generally the sticking point for me on this one. Some of the songs rise above this and the cell crafted guitar parts do their best, but I don't want vocals that are an after thought. With punk this can be the case more often than not as they take a just shout anything mentality. The vocals are not aggressive in that way and it's not just random shouting. They are not energetic at all and sounds like someone just talking through the songs. So for that reason I am rounding this down to a 7.5. If you are a fan of the early New Model Army style of punk you might not be as picky about this as I am and should check this album out. This is the band's third album so this might be the best the vocalist can do as that sort of thing should be worked out by now.