‘You Talk Too Fast’ sets the scene. Starts with choppy, Haircut 100 guitars and unnecessary paradiddles on the drums, before resting then coming back with a change in tempo. Then changing again. And again…
There is a chorus, heralded by shouts of ‘Bang’. Half-hearted shouts. The kind you wouldn’t have shouting the word ‘Bang’, for example.
Next up is ‘Crazy Fool’, sounding like Rush crossed with It Bites. Yes, I know. This song stinks.
‘Say What You Want’ is the slow one, and cruelly exposes Middlehill’s shortcomings as both songwriters and performers. Lyrics like ‘Say what you want/ but I ain’t listening/ you’ll be wasting your time/ just like you did to me’ further confirm that Middlehill are the sort of band who you would hear about via the following; ‘You know Tony at work? Yeah? His sister, right, she’s going out with this bloke, and his brother, he’s in a band. They’re called Middlehill. Yeah, I know. No, apparently they’re really good. What sort? All sorts, really, kind of rocky but, y’know, catchy, too. Yeah, apparently they’ve got interest, gonna be big…’
Nah.
Look, negativity makes me sad, so let’s look for positives;
They're young and keen, half-decent voice, catchy chorus on the first song, and they can obviously play (although not as well as they think they can).
But sorry, chaps, no amount of ‘clever’ drum rolls, stops and starts, changes in tempo (intentional, or in the case of the last song, otherwise) and ‘proggish’ elements can disguise overly long and indulgent songs that really don’t cut the mustard.
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