The cover art to Aliens’ album Head First is an apt visual description of their music. Much like the doomed diver smacking her head against the board, listeners may feel a little brain damaged after listening to this album.
Not to be confused with the Scottish group of ex-Beta Band members, this extraterrestrial band hails from Austin, Texas and is essentially Blake Sandberg on guitar and vocals surrounded by a rotating cast of drummers and an occasional drum machine.
With five different drummers (including Sandberg himself), the album’s flow is disrupted. Throw in some rather poor percussion performances and the whole grungy mess becomes inconsistent and shoddy.
Looking beyond the drums, you will find the album’s saving grace in muscular, driving guitar hooks. Sandberg’s style owes a lot to Kurt Cobain, both lyrically and from a guitar standpoint.
Sandberg screams vocal patterns into oblivion such as on “Moving Parts,” where he belts out lines like “Label me,” “You tell me,” and “Can’t control me” with the same emphasis and cadence. Though the song is a highlight and one of the successful drum machine/live drummer pairings, its success is darkened when a nearly identical beat and guitar riff reappear later on “Skeleton.”
Recording with warts and all can sometimes be admirable and enthralling, but the sloppiness and monotony of Head First put it in the dustbin.
– Nate Daly
Aliens: www.aliensmusic.com
Misc. Music: www.miscmusiconline.com