Over Stars And Gutters

Consider This Your Curse

Written by: TL on 28/07/2009 14:44:28

Ever since Hot Water Music became an underground cult phenomenon with their raw but passionate brand of melodic punk rock, scraping under the surface of the American music scene have revealed more and more bands letting themselves be inspired to play the same kind of stuff. Newcomers such as Only Thunder, Polar Bear Club and North Lincoln are all proof of this, and the same goes for todays contenders, Over Stars And Gutters, and their debut LP "Consider This Your Curse".

What this four-piece from Oklahoma have essentially done here, is dot all the i's, cross all the t's and jump through all the hoops of traditional melodic punk and hardcore punk. You got your raw twin guitars, your rumbling bass, you up beat drums and your garage sound in general, spearheaded by a singer equipped exclusively with the classic working man's roar and supported by some abrasive backup shouts here and there. This setup is then used to produce songs that are based solidly on simple, rolling chord structures, while littered with enough little fills and details to keep you from getting too bored.

It's easy to have ambivalent feelings about this kind of record, because Over Stars And Gutters hardly ever do anything on it that suggests that they want to go above and beyond their chosen genre. Their melodies are solid, their choruses are pseudo catchy and I'm sure most punk rock fans will find all their boxes ticked when listening, but on the other hand, there's little here to suggest the same strength of character or identity as you would find when listening to Polar Bear Club or Only Thunder for instance. This makes "Consider This Your Curse" the kind of album that it's hard to take something really memorable and impressive away from, but meanwhile it's still far better than mere background music - Because as soon as you put it on as such, you'll soon find your feet tapping, your lips moving along to the odd chorus and your mood generally improved. So what then? Well I guess that deserves a good old solid:

7

Download: Written In Green Ink, I'd Rather Be Dead
For The Fans Of: Only Thunder, Polar Bear Club, Living With Lions, North Lincoln, Hot Water Music
Listen: myspace.com/overstarsandgutters

Release Date 18.06.2009
**UNSIGNED BAND**

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