 The
Cliffhanger
"Hit the Horizontal" CDEP
Consett
Recording Co.
Genres: indie rock
Consett Records
PO Box 289
Cateshead NE8 4ZP
Mar 8 - 14 2004 |
I've got to hand it to The Cliffhanger, this release looks
terrific. The cover is appealing - the front is a nice horizon
photo, while the back is a bit of black-and-white Sebadoh-esque
DIY deliciousness. The music, similarly, is quite well-produced
- very glossy and finely-recorded.
The music itself - and that's what's important, right? - is of high
quality, though unfortunately predictable and bland. The band's
style is decidedly rock, without anything unpredictable or
particularly original to it. The songs are too long for their own good.
"The Sublime" for example, is eight minutes - it could be
three songs, except there aren't enough hooks to go around.
Clearly some editing should have been done somewhere along the
way. The shortest song is the first one, which is consequently
also the title-track. It's probably the most promising tune on
here, simply because its melody isn't left to stagnate for over five
minutes.
There are only three songs here, and I expected much more from them
than I got. While The Cliffhanger is not by any means a
bad band, they just don't do anything interesting enough to make
anyone want to listen to them.
73%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 3 tracks, distributed by the
band, released 2003] |
