Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous Debut, 21 Feb 2008
I was fortunate enough to see The Checks supporting fellow antipodeans Jet at the Hammersmith Apollo in early 2007. The put on an awesome performance with their rock style, distinctive rifts and strong vocals.
Having snapped up the Hunting Whales and What You Heard singles, complete with 'B Sides' of 'Oh Please', 'Mercedes Children' and 'The Creek', I was looking forward enormously to the album release. I was in Auckland, NZ, the day it came out and bought a copy there - and it has remained near the top of my playlists ever since.
Hunting Whales has a nice 'raw' edge to it, and is all the better for it. Lyrically, vocally and musically an excellent album - highly recommended!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Strong Debut, 4 Jan 2008
Even if you disregard the alluring cover, this albumn is still wroth buying, strange as it may see in these modern times. Through a well worn formula of "old style" rock The Checks manage to create exceptionally compelling music. Gutsy, Bluesy althogether rather entertaining. Fronted by Ed Knowles who sounds intruigingly like hes smoked more cigerettes than the entirety of Aerosmith, quite amazing really. This is rock music really at it's best, The Checks have a vibe that so many bands have lost recently they genuinly seem concerned about writing proper songs rather than poppy nonsense that appeals to 13 year old girls, thier music is undiluted and raw.
Thier guitar tones could be taken straight of hendrix's own pedal adn im certian could actually blister your own ears. After all is this not the motive for all good rock music, if so this thouroughly succeeds. This album reeks entirely of beer tinged 2 day old stubble rubbed so often over the surface of ones skin you might as well rub back, unrelentless and pure. The way rock should be. All I can say is buy this cd and remember the meaning of rock we all fell in love with.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing Debut, 19 Nov 2007
These guys have come from nowhere, they all needed second jobs to support themselves a few months ago! Now they're opening for the likes of Muse, Jet, Oasis.. They were asked by R.E.M to open after just hearing "Tired From Sleeping" on a magazine giveaway! Really great bluesy, edgy rock feel, Sven's guitar riffs are simple but great, and his solos are just great! Ed's vocals and dancing are amazing also (saw them opening for Muse!), he has a great voice that sounds somewhat Plant-esque. Track ratings:
1. Mercedes Children - Great opener, not too edgy and fast, not to soft and slow. Nice little riff from Sven, and the drums are great. Really solid opener 8/10
2. Take Me There - Wow! So good live! Really great song, my second favourite on the album, love the lyrics. A faster song, the 4 instruments really meld together great, an awesome mix of what I feel is blues, jazz and rock. 9/10
3. What You Heard - Another edgy riff starts this one off, with some crazy singing from Ed, was another one that was amazing live! Really makes you wanna get up and groove. 8/10
4. Tired From Sleeping - A bit slower, great vocals, was the song that got R.E.M hooked. 7.5/10
5. Where Has She Gone - Slower, but I prefer to Tired From Sleeping, really chill, harmonize well in the chorus. 8/10
6. Tired From Sleeping - My favoutite!! simply amazing, a really great riff, cool lyrics, groovy as, i LOVE IT! 10/10
7. Ah! Fear for Ed's vocal chords! Another solid song, one of my favourites, 8/10
8. See Me Peter - Slower, groovy, bassy, solid song, 7/10
9. Don't Wait - ahh I can't get enough of this band, but I'm running out of adjectives for great, edgy, groovy etc. just look at my ratings :D 8/10
10. Hunting Whales - Really reminds me of Zeppelin, slow and fast at times, deserved title song. 9/10
11. Memory Walking - hmm compared to the rest of the album, an attempt to do something different, a lot slower and softer. Bit of a shock really after the rest of the album, but quite nice. 6/10
The only negative I can think of for this album is that a lot of the songs sound quite similar, but seeing as I'm a huge fan of this music it's no problem to me! Buy this album!
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