Album Review: Justice Crew – Live By The Words
3 min read
It’s been four years since Aussie pop group Justice Crew took out the crown on Australia’s Got Talent‘s fourth season, and four years sure has gone by quick since the six piece began infecting our mainstream radio stations with their addictive singles; finally, the group are releasing their debut studio album Live By The Words. The new album will feature the singles Boom Boom, Que Sera, Best Night, Everybody and Rise and Fall, so it’s already sounding good.
A cheesy introduction is played to cheers before leading us into the chanty ARIA nominated Que Sera (Spanish for “what will be, will be”, it could be seen as an autobiographical track for Justice Crew as it outlines a journey highlighting the ‘now’, whilst ultimately falling into the group’s notoriously pop catalogue. Fly is your generically boppy ‘take my hand, you look so good’ track, a theme that is seemingly overdone, but fans of all-boy groups eat it up and clearly can’t get enough; their latest single Rise & Fall has a frustrating staccato in the chorus on the words ‘tonight’ and ‘lights’, but demonstrates a new sound the boys were going for, and you’ve gotta give them kudos for releasing something a tad different. A premature interlude before the (AUS) 6x platinum selling smash Boom Boom heats up, two years since we first pumped it through our stereos and it leaves a mark, it was definitely the party hit of the year; during the break down of I Love My Life it sounds like someone’s having a bit of a fit, the guitar is nice and the beat subtle, but the track overall isn’t groundbreakingly new.
Best Night served as one of 2012’s addictive hits of the early summer, its heavier beat and catchy hooks kept you bopping along; it sounds like there’s a lot going on with Always Been Real, but truthfully there’s not a lot of substance to it, following strictly to the formula of club produced tracks with lyrics instigating alcohol consumption and a structure so repetitive. A catchy post-chorus hook and a care free theme best describes the hit Everybody, another track that enjoyed excessive airplay on mainstream radio and in the clubs, but also yet another hit that is tastelessly generic; Life’s A Party has a catchy yet annoying hook, at this point you are yearning for something new and unheard of from Justice Crew, but there’s only one song left. Ride Until The Sun answers your prayers, hearing the guitars and the beat not being so overpowering really made this track a stand out, this was the something different you needed to hear from them before the album ended.
Thus far, Justice Crew’s career in pop music has been successful, and that success has been thanks to their singles that were catered accordingly for their fans and mainstream radio enthusiasts; not to mention their crazy cool dance moves, not all boy bands have that added extra bit of talent to their name. Considering Australia has already heard and loved half of Live By The Words, obviously not counting the unnecessary intro/interlude segments, it’s not as exciting as it could have been; three of the five singles were released from 2012-2013, so they’re nothing fresh and a bit tiring. Just by listening to the album, it is clear that Justice Crew are in a good place as far as mainstream music goes, Live By Words should fare well on the charts but not so much for the ears. Sorry guys.
