Time for another dive into my MP3 player to pick one of my favorite Irish albums from my limited selection of what Tickets There calls good Irish music. One of the main reasons I’ve picked this album is because the boi’s have a second one coming out sometime in the near future (although I said that last year) and I’m really hoping the Irish don’t let this one get past them.
When Humanzi burst onto the scene a few years ago they were fairly unlikely candidates for the clientele of Whelan’s and the underground scene in general to endorse them. I put this down to the fact that Humanzi are one of very few bands that can play, write good music and put on a fantastic live performance. Unfortunately their success didn’t grow outside of the Dublin scene so they took the sensible option and left the country to tour around Europe and further afield in the hopes of establishing a fan base that might actually grow. I’m not sure how much this has worked but the band don’t seem to have had any bother getting gigs across the continent thus far so I imagine it’s all good.
So back to Tremors. The first time I heard this record, I wasn’t hugely impressed. I thought many of the tracks just seemed to run together and the album had an overall style with any deviation or diversity meaning the tracks all kind of ran together and came across weak. Then I gave it another go and for a couple of months I found it hard to listen to anything else. Diet Pills and Magazines is quite simply a brilliant Punk Rock track. The lyrics are clever and witty, the tone is aggressive and the song is constructed with pop sensibilities. You can ask for any more than that now, can ya? The beating keyboards, the stomping rhythm of the guitars, drums and bass and the Shaun’s vocals are so perfectly fitting it’s uncanny. 6 Gun has a great opening, really dramatic and simple, again classic punk. Like Diet Pill’s.. it has a really full on attack mode chorus and Shaun e..bla, bla, bla. You get the point. Out on a Wire is one of my personal favs’. Great bass line, great guitars and I love the vocals. If you’re sitting down listening to this track it’s hard not to tap your feet along with the drums and when you’re on a dart or bus that looks a little strange. Really, really, really great song. I Want Silence is another of my favorites. Really swash buckling, ship swaying music. You can almost see the stage swaying from side to side with the band on it. You couldn’t stand still to music like this, it’s just too full of beats and melody not too enjoy. The verse is quite stretched but the chorus is just an anthem any band could be proud to have in their collection.
Long Time Coming is another good track. It’s a bit quieter than the others and does change the tone of the album a little. The flow is fantastic and the energy is ever present. Tremors is more like a Nine Inch Nails track than a punk song. Really heavy, really loud and really fucking good. Want to hear the best in the country, stick it on. Industrious, infectious and full of little beats, nooks and crannies that lead the song down different paths from time to time giving all the meag-moshers in the their audience a few moments of peace before it all comes crashing back down again. Song for Understanding is another slowish one. Now when I say slow and Humanzi, don’t go expecting Phil Collins singing In the Air Tonight, think more along the lines of the Sex Pistols covering …the Sex Pistols. Anyways, this one is a little more pop than the others and not a personal fav of Tickets There.
Fix the Cracks is another of the albums singles and a cracking wee tune it is too. Well worth the hype and praise it initially received and a pity it didn’t break the band abroad. Catchy chorus, great riffs and all that guff. Help me in the Morning is more a dance track than the others and shows there is a basic dance foundation ion the groups sound. Maybe that’s why they sound fresher and more original than most Punk Rock acts out there who all just to try and sound like the Clash / The Ramones or Green Day. Get your Shit Together sounds exactly like what you’d expect. Dirty distorted guitars, a mother thumping drum beat and all the attitude four lads from da north side can muster. Great track unless you’re a prat. Mass Hypnosis is last but not least. Heavy, undistinguishable vocals and a lot going on…yet still great.
If you have to get one Irish album this Christmas, make it Humanzi – Tremors.
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