Melbourne band Zeptepi are political. My usual feelings on political bands are that they would usually be better off if they dropped the politics from their music. Not that it's wrong to want to speak out on an issue, but the rock and roll format has a nasty tendency to make heartfelt political messages sound like second-rate high-school poetry. So, when I heard the first verse or so of Welcome To The Modern World, I started thinking to myself "oh no, here we go again".

Zeptepi's lyrics, it's true, often sound really bad, and they suffer from really bad sequencing on their album, which puts all the most embarrassing lyrics at the front of their album. Despite that though, they have some obvious talent, although it only becomes apparent when you give the band a good listen. Anthemic indie rock is the band's speciality, with just that faintest dash of prog-rock to give things some flavour.

But firstly, there's the opening track that you have to get through. As I mentioned before, Welcome To The Modern World is perhaps a peculiar song to start with, seeing as it sounds like a hung over version of Gelbison playing with malfunctioning equipment. Add to the fact that the lyrics that Phil Dean is seemingly compelled to deliver are shockingly awful and clichéd, and you have a recipe for disaster. Seriously, listening to songs like this should be mandatory for all new indie bands, to instruct them on how not to totally overdo a song.

Starting on such a low point, the only direction is up, but the band thankfully manage to improve pretty quickly. Losing My Mind has a nice bouncy beat backed up by some nice background effects, and the vocals sound a lot more natural and less forced this time. Bad Mood Rising keeps the skittering, high-pitched effects in the background, and adds a bit of dirty, distorted guitar to things. Without a doubt though, the best song on the album is Machine, which starts out with powerchords and an ominous bassline, and some deadpan vocals that precisely match the song. The song sounds greasy, grimy, and mechanical, just as a song which starts with the lyrics "I am a machine" should do. On the other hand, Not Hungry Anymore is a slower song that draws upon Pink Floyd, using gentle atmospherics rather than powerchords to create an atmosphere.

Zeptepi obviously have something to offer, but more often than not on this album, not everything clicks together. If the band can abandon their political lyrics, which are about as subtle and insightful as being shot in the face, or at least give them a little bit of nuance, and resist the urge to overpolish and make their songs more complicated than they need to be, they'll be onto a winner. Songs like Machine and Not Hungry Anymore show that the band have plenty of talent and ability, it's just up to them to use it.