Early Man - Closing In Album Review

Early Man
Closing In
Album Review
Matador Records

The obvious thing wrong with this is that there's a bass guitar missing. To get away with no bass in your band, you'd better be something really special. This is not. Mike Conte on guitar and vocals and Adam Bennati on drums try valiantly to recreate the full-on demolition rock of twenty-odd years ago, but it's hard to see exactly what they were trying to achieve.

It's certainly understandable that in the face of all the electro, retro, pop-rock currently doing the rounds, someone would have a go at bringing back 'proper rock', with some attitude, aggression and sweat. But if it's revolution you're after, simply recreating yesterday's heroes – Sabbath, Maiden et al – out of time and context, is not the way to do it. So, despite Mike's stirling efforts to duplicate Ozzy's vocal style, these 11 tracks of screeching guitar and pumping beats amount to nothing very interesting.

Sharon Edge