Review Summary: Screamfeeder's underrated 1993 record is something that may have passed you by...
Screamfeeder were never the most popular group in the mob of alternative rock acts to emerge from Australia during the 1990s. Although their discography was constant and prolific, they never quite reached the heights of bands such as
Spiderbait or
Jebediah. Despite this, their musical output remained steady well into the mid-00s, with records like Rocks on the Soul and Take You Apart.
Burn Out Your Name was released in April of 1993 through Survival Records, lacking the major label support most of their contemporaries had and thus, the album bore no real "hits". However, when listening to the album, it's easy to point out tracks that would have made excellent singles such as the insanely catchy angst-fest that is 'Wrote You Off' or the wonderfully worded 'Sushi Bowl'. 'Around a Pole' is great too, with some lovely echoes of
Husker Du, who play a very obvious influence on the music on this album, and seemingly on Screamfeeder as a band.
Despite all these lovely tracks however, Burn Out Your Name is not perfect. Songs like 'Monster' and 'Goat Cheese' seem to blend into the rest of the album without offering anything different from the previous tracks. This doesn't mean the songs are bad by any means, but it does make some tracks feel a bit redundant when listening to the album in it's entirety.
Hopefully big fans of angsty, 90s alternative rock will be able to see past this record's little flaws and give it a go, even if that just means downloading 'Wrote You Off'. The good parts of the album totally outweigh the bland parts, and Screamfeeder perform with such a subtle charm that it's hard not to love the great majority of tracks on this album.
