Bokaata

Everybody Needs An Enemy

Written by: TL on 19/07/2010 21:48:48

My review for tonight is a long overdue look at "Everybody Needs an Enemy EP" by Bokaata, a band in which our own EW has a friend involved, and who hence thought they might turn this debút EP of theirs in for some good old Rockfreaks.net branded criticism. In the interest of neutrality and in keeping EW from ever writing about something that isn't tr00 metal, the disc was sent on to yours truly, and the rest will be history over the course of the next paragraphs.

"Everybody Needs An Enemy EP" is in many ways a very typical EP for a debúting band to put out, first and foremost because it sees Bokaata try their hand at as many different approaches as there are tracks (that would be four), and hence it becomes harder for a reviewer to say anything more general about the whole, than that it is a fairly pop-rock-ish effort, and on we then move with the track by track description.

"Love Lost" opens proceedings at a high, sporting a pop-punk-ish feel in the veins of The Academy Is, Day At The Fair and the likes. It's a simple and relatively catchy song with a nice 80's-ish synth in the background (think Alphaville) and it makes a fairly good impression. Unfortunately I don't think the same can be said about "Lifeline", which makes an attempt at the all too popular British dance-rock/new-rave phenomenon. The ambition seems to be to create something in the veins of Innerpartysystem, but the song sounds forced and somewhat impotent, and considering the rather shortlived popularity of this genre, I'd advice the band to stop advances in this direction. Then I'm immediately more friendly towards the echoing darkness of the ballad "Refugee", which oddly reminds me of Madonna's classic "Frozen" (for lack of a more rock'n'roll comparison - I'm drawing a blank in that department). Unfortunately, the closing title track brings the overall impression down again. Featuring a certain speech by Winston Churchill for an intro (This has been trademarked by a relatively famous band...., how do you not know this?/ignore this?), the track seems to go for a mood that's part funky and part heavy, and appears intent on making an impression simply through over-repetition of its hookline.

The defining character of "Everybody Needs An Enemy EP" however, is not really the difference in the quality of the song. Rather it's the beginner-level of its production and its singing. You can easily hear that this recording is relatively low-key, and singer Gavin Bates has considerable room to improve, before his attitude will come across as impressively as he likely intends it. With such hurdles ahead, and half the songs being relatively 'meh', Bokaata will have to settle for a humble grade around the average mark for now, but with the potential shown on the good songs, I think there's still potential for future improvement.

Download: Love Lost, Refugee
For The Fans Of: The Academy Is, The New Loud
Listen: myspace.com/bokaata

Release Date December 2009
**UNSIGNED BAND**

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