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Sugar Red Drive

Sugar Red Drive

Written by: DR on 22/12/2009 15:52:52

After a few frustrating hours I had finally completed the download of Sugar Red Drive's self-titled debut. A less than tolerable internet connection makes for a pain in the arse when downloading large files, and for whatever reason, the songs on this album are in a format I didn't know existed: AIFF; and were a size I didn't know was possible for a 4 minute song: the mean is a mere 34MB! Not off to the best of starts, but as soon as I hit play the previous chafes are entirely forgiven. My previous ten reviews were albums that were anything but straightforward; on the one side they bring out the inner elitist in me, but my other side is pleading for something that injects the fun back in to music. Sugar Red Drive do just that.

It's rock music that's more likely to make you bust a move than mosh. Generic? Sure, but that originality thing is overrated anyways. It's direct, unambiguous and full of attitude. Perhaps the 'attitude' is best personified by the guitarist Jim Knauss, consistently throwing out hot licks and groove-injected riffs. The singer Archit Tripathi has a sort of whiskey-voice, raspy, while though technically good he's not altogether too dissimilar to the Creed frontman. In fact, this band as a whole don't sound too dissimilar to Creed. Now, there not carbon copies at all, but they definitely harbour some of the mainstream radio appeal akin to Creed.

First single "One More Time" is one of the stand out tracks, addictive and catchy, as is required to succeed in the mainstream. Sugar Red Drive aren't all about the fast-paced hard rock however, they are more than capable at pulling of the typical ballads. "Miller's Daughter", accompanied by string instruments, allows Tripathi to flaunt the softer side to his voice and his more heartfelt lyrics.

Despite the disappointing production - it sounds as though the vocals have just been slapped on top - "Sugar Red Drive" is an impressive debut. There's enough to hint at a bright future for Sugar Red Drive, providing they get all the right breaks. The songs do start to blend in to each other, and they aren't really that layered enough to have real lasting value a few months from now. Nonetheless, you will play this numerous times before getting bored.

Download: One More Time, In My Head, Comin Down
For Fans of: Seether, Creed, Theory of a Deadman
Listen: Myspace

Release Date 18.09.2009
MRI