Battery Face are a three-piece rock band from Glasgow, who are releasing their debut album, Addams Family Values, at the end of the month. The album is being released jointly by DIY labels Dirty Beard and Electropapknit. Recently, they supported Jesus H. Foxx at their album launch. On the back of their new album, however, they deserve a closer look.
Addams Family Values is a nine-track record, comprised of a heavy rad-rock, punk sound that’s lifted out of the brackets of those genres by a healthy dose of synth. Written down, that sounds crazy – but I strongly encourage you to listen to the embedded player below.
The first track, Gomez, is rock, played straight-faced. It’s a good opener, lurching between shoegaze rock and carousel organs, exhibiting excellent use of minimal and loud sound, a trick which Battery Face use often and well.
I loved the fading outtro to Punchy, though ITT and fourth track Lurch are much in the same vein as Gomez; fast paced, slightly offbeat rock – serrated rock and roll, conducted drunkenly.
The record slows a little on Dead Is A Trick, a wound down track that sets up the all-out assault of Fester as a treat. The guitars subside for the atmospheric and ambient Morticia/Emo Song, which oscillates into the final track, Wednesday.
Even if Battery Face are a little unhinged, they are not without influence – to me, their songs sound like Wolfmother taken for a rollercoaster ride; those same howled vocals, meandering guitar and a progressive approach to song arrangement (especially on tracks like Wednesday) strikes a familiar note for me.
As a parting note however, I think I would have liked to see a longer album, with a bit more space for experimentation, from the band – the only thing that keeps it a great record, rather than an amazing record, is its relatively short playing time.
