Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brace yourself, 2 Jul 2006
The word 'blistering' has perhaps been overused in music journalism, but it could have been invented for Forward Russia. Exploding onto dozens of stages over the last 2 years, they have proven to be one of the most exciting live bands around. Melding the frenetic guitar fury of At The Drive-In with the rough-edged disco indie of the Rapture, their sound is strange, unique, and instantly distinguishable.
This is easily exemplified on the album by Thirteen, the opening track - a keyboard arpeggio and picked guitar intro is beaten out by disco drums and off-kilter bass while Tom screeches about Van Gogh and Pharoahs over the top, to then suddenly rampage into a fantastic pop chorus. One of the things the Russians do well is switching from cavernous, murky depths to sudden moments of brilliant pop catchiness that give the songs instant memorability.
The next song, Twelve, brilliantly encapsulates the thrill of Forward Russia's live act, Tom's vocals frantically trying to keep pace with Whiskas' guitar, the guitar furiously racing Katie Nicholls' thrashing drums. Constantly varying in pace and texture, this song does more in a furious 2 minutes than some bands will do in a whole album.
Again recalling At The Drive-In, the lyrics are often oblique, yet carefully conceptual under their tangental images and apparently nonsensical structures. As with the music, there's meaning to the madness, sense in the chaos. This might even be a concept album (if it's ever possible to not make a record that someone will call a concept album).
Give Me A Wall's centrepiece and highlight is Sixteen, a surprisingly tender duet between Katie and Tom opening what builds, through a hammering metal bridge, into an epic disco rock masterpiece (if you can't imagine such a thing, you really must hear this track). The sheer soaring climax of this song is worth the album's price on its own.
Many of the songs oscillate between passages of dark, sweaty claustrophobia and sudden breaks into vast, prog-esque space. Forward Russia sometimes seem the kind of band who are in danger of letting the feedback drone on too long - but in actual fact they show great restraint here, especially for a new band. The songs are generally tight and focused - the exception being final track Eleven, which goes a tad overboard with its operatic death throes.
Having been familiar with much of the material through demos, the album's production quality was a tad disappointing to me at times. However, this will probably not trouble fresh listeners in the slightest. It also does not detract from the great achievement of this debut, or the fantastic future promise it shows. Forward Russia have an immensely complex sound, rich in detail, that has only improved with time - and is set to continue to do so.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Britain's best new band, 17 May 2006
If nothing else, ”Forward, Russia!'s debut album will go down in history as having possibly the most confusing tracklisting of all time. It starts with 'Thirteen', before moving onto track 2, 'Twelve', then 'Fifteen Pt. 1' at track three. With this numerical track naming, plus that upside down apostrophe, on the surface ”Forward, Russia! look like they could be the archetypal pretentious art school band whose unlistenable noodling you've had to sit through at bad gigs in tiny rooms. In fact, they're by far the most exciting band in Britain. With overhyped, identical British indie sludge currently clogging up the charts, it's incredibly refreshing to find a band completely deserved of the rapid rise to fame they will very soon achieve.
That said, things are kicking off now: they're currently blowing said indie sludge off the stage at the NME new bands tour and the music press are beginning to sniff out their potential. Give them a couple of years and maybe Q will be onto them. With 'Give Me A Wall' getting a mass release on their own label dance_to_the_radio and guitarist Whiskas already a local hero for promoting and supporting Leeds bands, they personify the DIY ethos more than any other Internet-assisted buzz band, putting two triumphant fingers up to the major-label Man.
That would all mean nothing, though, if they didn't make an exciting and original racket, but boy they do. With the exception of the plodding and forgettable 'Sixteen', every track on 'Give Me A Wall' finds an almost perfect balance between accessible and challenging. They're instantly likebable thanks to their raw energy and memorable hooks, but it's the complexity and detail of the songs, plus Tom Woodhead's truly unique voice, that ensure repeated listenings. As the album fades out to the twisty ADD punk of 'Eleven' to the same riff that opener 'Thirteen' started with, you'll be reaching for the repeat button.
Most of the songs at first seem to consist of undecipherable yelps. It's a bit of a revelation to have the lyric booklet tucked away in the album's nice packaging, really.: previously, 'Twelve' existed to me only as "FU-GE-OO-AH-ANA-E-FAW-U-A FU-GE-OO-AH HE WAS AN EDUCATED MAN!!". It's actually about Einstein, apparently. But impenetrable lyrics really aren't a problem when you're faced with such a varied set of music, almost every track dense and memorable. There are, however, two tracks which are truly spectacular. Previous single 'Twelve' is just over two minutes long but packs an enormous post-punk punch thanks to the Woodhead's energetic shouting and Whiskas' lighting-fast guitar work.
At the other end of the scale is 'Nineteen', the closest they will probably ever come to a ballad. A catchy synth line hovers over this soaring song, and though the lyrics are still impossible to decipher, Woodhead still puts a huge amount of emotion into his voice. The stacatto drumming only tops it off. I'm guessing that since it's got the largest number, it's ”Forward, Russia!'s most recent song, and if they continue this songwriting streak, my premature proclamation of them as one of Britain's current most exciting bands will be confirmed. Here's to 20 and beyond being equally brilliant.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lost lost lost in a sea of conjuncture!, 28 Aug 2006
I was familiar with many of the demos that ”Forward, Russia! had released prior to this album, so I knew what I was getting when I bought it, but the album did still come with a few surprises.
The offbeat drumming and dodgy time signatures are what make this band unique in so many ways, and are present in most of their tracks. Russia are not heavy, but they are loud and erratic, if you don't like music in that mould then you won't like this band, it's something of a tolerance or an acquired taste.
The best tracks are Thirteen, Twelve, Nine, both parts of Fifteen and the closer, Eleven. All are distinguishable and different in their own way, and you have to give them the credit they deserve for making this the case with what is so often an exhausted and saturated genre. Their live performances are also excellent and usually intimate.
The faults are that firstly, my favourite track, Fourteen, isn't on the album. More of a personal complaint I know, but then also there's the fact that the demos sounded much better for some reason. Evidence for this is that if you download the demo of Thirteen and compare it to the album version, the album version seems a bit lifeless in parts, the drums are muffled a bit and there just seems to be less bite in quite a few other tracks too. You get used to this, but it might be worth investigating the demos too to see what I mean.
Minor faults aside, this is a solid debut album from one of the most interesting bands in Britain. Of course, if you're a fan you already knew this, if you're not.. try before you buy because this is not an average British Indie band, and is one that has polarised opinions in many ways.
Finally, I'd like to point out that ”Forward, Russia! is pronounced Forward Russia. The ” is an upside-down ! and not an i as some people have been thinking...
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