Japanese Fighting Fish - Day Bombs
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| Japanese Fighting Fish - Day Bombs |
Release Date: 30th September 2013
Based on this latest release from
the Leeds/London based outfit Japanese Fighting Fish, the band clearly have
excellent taste in music. The influences apparent in the songs on Day Bombs are
like a 'who's awesome' of modern rock but I'm just not quite sure they've
managed to merge all the different styles and influences successfully. Let's
have a little look see shall we? Kicking off with the System Of A Down-ish
'Bloody Fingers' and 'He Doesn't Know What He Wants' there are promising signs
but there's a certain something missing that I can't quite put my finger on.
'Greatest Excuse' takes the SOAD influences and takes it on to a new Queens Of
The Stoneage level but with a distinctly average pub rock chorus letting it
down. Things get a little more interesting on the Victorian Showman vs Punk
Anarchist infused 'They Lie' but despite exploring Gogol Bordello meets Carter
USM territory it still just comes across as being a little on the novelty side
of things. And again, on 'Flick The King', there are optimistic tones as well
as potential to fall in line behind St Joe Strummer but, despite a fairly
storming chorus, it just doesn't quite seal the deal.
"Walking up the street, it
was quarter to ten, I looked across the road to see my friend Ben", so
starts 'Ben'. Now aside from the fact that the singer is confused as to whether
he is on a road or a street, the use of lyrics that could have been written by
a 10 year old suddenly has this album nose diving from a position of potential
to, well, let's not say where just yet, there are four more tracks yet. 'Legs'
does a little to redeem Japanese Fighting Fish with its Audioslave riffs and
QOTSA sinister overtones whilst 'So Drunk & Wasted' gets all Placebo on our
ass but with lower production standards and fewer ideas. The ambitious
introduction to 'Mister Mandolin' gives way to a gravelly, folorn vocal and
acoustic guitar with some understated percussion which, compared to the rest of
this album, is actually a gentle and welcome change. Album closer, 'Senses' has
balls, big beefy balls that Japanese Fighting Fish want to hit you in the face with.
A rumbling bass, crashing drums and some wailing guitars redeem the band somewhat
but the damage done by 'Ben' still lingers. So I'm sticking with my gut
reaction; Japanese Fighting Fish have some awesome influences and are clearly
talented but somehow they just need to work out how to tie all that together
and they could have something pretty special on their hands. As it is, what
they have on their hands is something a little bit more than mediocre - not
much more, mind.
More information: https://www.facebook.com/Japanesefightingfishuk?fref=ts
Live Dates:
17th August - Beacons Festival, Skipton
20th August - Barfly, London
31st August - Weyfest Festival, Farnham
4th October - The 100 Club, London
15th November - Vibe Bar, London