Go in
expecting a little more like myself and you may feel a little underwhelmed.
Stripping away the hardcore punk edge of their debut, Leeds rock band go all
out in reviving 80s-Goth-rock complete with yelped vocals and
reverb-slathered twangy guitars. They do a great job at imitating their idols
and it’s a shedload of fun for a few tracks until you realise Eagulls aren’t really doing
anything that novel.
Consequently,
Ullages gets samey fast. The detuned
guitar madness making up instrumental track ‘Harpstrings’ briefly spices things
up, but then ‘Psalms’ and ‘Blume’ trundle along sounding like Cure B-sides, as
if the band felt they have to balance out their experimentation with blandness.
 |
| I had to check what the band looked like in case they weren't just The Cure in disguise |
Thankfully,
the second half does boast a few more exciting moments, ‘Skipping’ incorporating
an intense pulsing bass riff and some creative phasered hi-hats, ‘Aisles’
throwing in some marching band snare rolls contrasted by walls of echoey guitar. It’s
in this half we also get ‘Lemontrees’, which is still Cure-worship, but makes up for it by sporting the album's catchiest chorus along with some badass tribal percussion.
★★★☆☆
TRACK TASTER: