Broken Bottles

In The Bottles (TKO)
By Ewan Wadharmi

A very heavy bottom end supports kooky nerd vocals like Johnny Rotten or The Weirdos. Not as jagged or energetic as you might expect from the name: The attitude is smarmy rather than snotty. Singer Jes “The Mess” has the bad habit of pulling down a half-step after every line. I think he stole that and the warble from Stan Ridgway. Some of the better ideas like “I’m in a porn/with Kelly Osbourne” are mired down in sludge. The music and vocal delivery is far too serious for the goofball lyrics. “86’d” needs a better backdrop to proclaim “I can’t take you anywhere/animals attack you/I can’t take you anywhere/put your pants on.” Even the cover of The Boxtops’ “The Letter” threatens to take off but only increases in volume, not speed. I think a joke band already melded Misfits Goth-metal with Dead Mikmen vocals, and it was known as AFI.
(3126 W. Cary St. #303 Richmond, VA 23221)