Review Summary: Japanese Voyeurs provide a great debut, mixing the catchy with the heavy and full of potenital
Crashing in with a flurry of fuzzy guitars and sassy vocals, there is something distinctly fresh about London based Japanese Voyeurs’ debut album,
Yolk. Whilst all its elements already exist in the music world - grunge tinged riffs, stoner rock influences, female vocals, catchy melodies – it doesn’t seem as if anyone has quite yet arranged them like this up and coming Alternative Metal band have here.
Opener “You’re So Cool” pretty much exemplifies what Japanese Voyeurs are about. Frontwoman Romily Alice’s fantastically quirky voice weaving melodies through muddy, grunge riffs with the lead guitar occasionally taking the forefront for a short, but by no means uninteresting, lick or solo. Songs such as “Smother Me” and “Milk Teeth” shows this at its best, creating a gritty and somewhat groovy sound that perfectly balances the heavy guitars with the catchy (or sometimes brooding) vocals.
On the other hand, “The Heart Is A Fist” shows just how emotive and powerful Romily Alice’s voice can be when left on its own; whilst “Blush” is riff heavy but by no means less competent. “Cry Baby” is a perfect little piece of three minute goodness that probably shows the band at their most poppy with catchy (and somewhat cheeky sounding) melodies and big, loud choruses. There is plenty of variety that should appeal to a wide audience, and Japanese Voyeurs largely succeed in all areas.
That’s not to say that the
Yolk is a perfect album. Songs such as “Double Cheese” and “X-Ray Ted” are noticeably weaker than the rest - not quite achieving the same gripping force that is so prevalent in others. And sometimes, the vocals get a little
too quirky and fall flat on their face (most evidently in “Dumb”). It’s probably also worth mentioning the 37 minutes stuck on the end of “Blush” on the CD version of the album, most of which is silence except for a short and pretty unnecessary hidden track which doesn’t really add much to the actual sound of the album.
Overall however,
Yolk is a fantastic debut album, providing something just that much more interesting to the music scene. Japanese Voyeurs’ seem already to have found their sound and although a little rough around the edges, is full of potential.
Recommended Tracks
*Cry Baby
*Milk Teeth
*The Heart Is A Fist
