According to their website, Brisbane band The Reveels sound a bit like The Cure, with a sprinkle of Ian Curtis, some raucous screamo/emo, a dash of Frank Black, and a good handful of rock and pop. While I appreciate the need for a band to promote themselves with kind words, this strikes me as a bit presumptuous. Namedropping is fine and all, but casually saying that you sound a bit like a mixture of some of the greatest musicians of the past four decades can set awfully high expectations. In this instance, even though The Reveels are clearly aiming high, they fail to meet these expectations.

In this case, you have to ask the question whether a band that records a song called Rifforama really has the maturity and depth to be everything that they claimed to be above. Especially when the only riff on display is a pretty mediocre affair that sounds like something from a Custard B-side. Tear Me A Hole is built around a slightly better riff, but the various howls of vocalist Paul Milson sound more like a six year old pretending to do karate than anything to get the listener excited. It sounds forced, clichéd, and more than a little embarrassing.

That's not to say that The Reveels are completely without merit on this album, songs like Early Morning Bus show that the band can produce something that's fun to listen to, and a little bit profound as well. In fact, it shows what is probably the best way forward for this band: keeping things simple. Throughout this album, the best moments are when they keep things simple and uncomplicated, and don't try to add too much to it (whether that be fancy production tricks, unneeded instrumental flourishes, and the aforementioned screaming).

I feel like a bit of a bitch for ragging on this album, because quite clearly The Reveels have good intentions and some good ideas, and with some better production and a bit of spit and polish, there's no reason that their next album can't be really great. Unfortunately, this album is just a little too sloppy and unfocused to be worth recommending.