Irish trio Adebisi Shank follow up their sophomore effort This Is The Second Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank with, you guessed it, This Is The Third Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank. Although their album titles never keep you guessing, their albums’ contents always does. With this latest release, Adebisi Shank goes further down the rabbit hole combining elements of happy hardcore, epic post-punk, and math rock to create an interesting, albeit not great, album.
From the early going, the album sets a certain tenor. The opening track, “World in Harmony” largely sounds like a drum n bass remix of Nintendo game soundtrack. Although a breakdown in the track with some computerized vocals gives the track a nice break, the sound is a bit too busy. It does have a second movement to it which is a bit more pleasing with live drums and all out rock guitars.
“World in Harmony” feels like an overly long intro to the main attraction, “Big Unit.” The track was the album’s lead single and for good reason; it is TITTAOABCAS’ best track. Between slow chugging power chords and reverbed lead guitar vamps, the track sounds like the math rock equivalent of Journey. But “Big Unit” is an outlier on the album. It is followed by the happy hardcore track “Turn Around” before the album lowlight, “Mazel Tov.” The cheesy retro-future funk track features saxophone, slap bass, and computerized vocals. It sounds like the bastard child of Herbie Hancock and Prince but not in a good way.
While some later album tracks contain some good elements, there is not another gem that is as well composed or compelling all the way through as “Big Unit.” Perhaps we should rename the record, This Is The First Disappointing Album Of A Band Called Adebisi Shank.
Rating: 5.0/10
MP3: Adebisi Shank “World in Harmony”
Buy: iTunes
Shitty review of an otherwise fantastic album. Don’t listen to this idiot. “Mazel Tov” is one of the best songs on this album.