Album Review: Salad Boys – Metalmania
2 min read
Christchurch collective Salad Boys have been wowing listeners with their wondrous, charged up brand of tunes and has finally recorded their unique tracks for their debut release Metalmania. While the title might suggest you’re in for a full on assault of the hard-core variety, the material on Metalmania is quite the opposite of metal. The Salad Boys are all about intense riffs, laid back vocals, entrancing repetition and a plethora of pop melodies.
This release is a diverse collection of soft, acoustic strums combined with warm melodies while other songs are an upbeat, infectious track full of insane riffs. On the calmer side of the album you’re welcomed to familiar territory with Here’s No Use, Better Pickups and My Decay. Each track is a simplistic harmony full of traditional acoustic riffs and quipping lyrics full of desire that unfortunately get quite lost in the indie sea of sound of each song. There’s just a certain power in the melodies that the smooth, delicate vocals get overpowered, so the message isn’t as strong as it could be.
On the flip side you’re drawn into the upbeat tracks like No Taste Bomber, which is an instant jam, there’s plenty of jangling guitar riffs and a thrash of drums that’s impossible not to dance too. I’m A Mountain is another up-tempo tune full of almost frantic beats and the repeated lyrics “I won’t let you fuck it up”, that certainly get your attention. Another instant jam is Daytime Television it’s full of electronic riffs and beats that are almost psychedelic but they’re an absolute dream tied with lyrics that take a stab at our computer age – “I feel like we’re miles apart, too far gone and it won’t last, how can you get through to me talking through a computer screen”.
Although it’s certainly not the materiel you’d expect to find on a record titled Metalmania, Salad Boys do a fabulous job creating tracks full of soul and adrenaline. It’s very easy to get lost in a wave of their sweet melodies and continue your descent as you groove to the supercharged toe-tapping jams on this album.
