"Don't you feel amazing?" is the 3rd album by UK punk rockers Trash Boat. I discovered Trash Boat into the build up to their 2nd album "Crown Shyness" as I was taken in by their heavy infectious grooves. However, although I thought "Crown Shyness" was a solid album I didn't review it as felt I didn't have enough to write about it. To me it was a very one-dimensional album which there is nothing wrong with, but it does make it more of a challenge to write about.
"Don't you feel amazing?" came out in August 2021 at a time when the quiet spell for albums during the summer was over and suddenly you have loads of albums out at the same time. On the day this was released I was excited for albums by The Killers, Jade Bird and Helicopter and the holy ghost. To be honest I had high expectations for those albums and lower for Trash Boat. As I was thinking they would produce the same album as "Crown Shyness" just rehashed. All I can say is I was totally wrong. The other 3 albums are different levels of goodness. But for me Trash Boat blew them all out the water with this album. It is just a complete joy from start to finish.
I must zoom in on one particular song on the album first and that is "Cannibal". This is my favourite song on the album. There is not many lyrics in the song but a lot of repetition meaning most of the song is singing. But the song does show off lead singer Tobi Duncan's full range. Not only that but some of the passages of lyrics flow into each other so perfectly. To be honest I don't know if they even make sense together. But in terms of Tobi's vocals, they are delivered so perfectly. I think the band really like the lyric "Live like a King die, die like an animal" as this is a prominent lyric in "Cannibal". Not only that but there is a track immediatley after "Cannibal" called "Live Like a King die like an animal" which acts as an outro to "Cannibal". The only criticism I have of "Cannibal" is that it would have been good if it had a purely instrumental section in it. For the bridge for example as Tobi Duncan is basically singing for the full time. Just to rock out for a bit. But still, as it is, an absolute beast of a song and the vocals are delivered so well.
Trash boat have brought in some people to collaborate on this album. With Kamiyada coming in on "Alpha Omega" and "Milkie Way" coming on "Bad entertainment". But just the two collaborations. I think there is valid comparison in Trash Boat's sound to Bring me the Horizon. But at the same time in terms of collaborations Bring me the Horizon have so many their albums are turning more into projects than Bring me the Horizon albums. (Should say nothing wrong with that as they are still amazing). But by Trash Boat only having 2 collaborations it still keeps Trash Boat at the core of the album. "Alpha Omega" is a beast of an aggressive track. Very sweary and not for the faint hearted. But at the same time, it's got lyrics that everyone can relate too sometimes even on a day-to-day basis.
The only single that has been released of this album is "He's so good". Another absolute banger and if you look across this album really, it's just great song after great song. They even have that diversity with "All I can never be" slowing things down a bit towards the end of the album with a little acoustic number. Then "Synthetic Sympathy" and "Maladaptive Daydreaming" keep the quality of the album finishing on a high note as the last 2 tracks of the album.
Overall, this is a stormer of an album. As I say I had greater expectations of other albums that were due out at the same time as this album came out. But this album well and truly came out on top. I would compare their trajectory in terms of album releases to Boston Manor who released their third album "Glue" last year. They both seem to be at the fore front of the punk rock scene in the UK at the moment and both their 3rd albums have been the best thing they have done and that is saying something considering the levels of their second albums.
No comments:
Post a Comment