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Unwritten LawHere's To The Mourning Lava/Warner When you're a punk band you don't need to be original: your songs just need to be loud and have a biting attitude. Unwritten Law used to be a punk band. Their 1998 eponymous album was a great punk record; Scott Russo & Co. wrote songs that were loud, with great, catchy melodies and soaked in attitude to boot. Unwritten Law are not a punk band any more. Now they write radio-friendly rock fare, and in such a field you need to be original to shine. This album is not original. Don't get me wrong: the band's fifth album 'Here's To The Mourning' isn't a terrible record, it just isn't particularly good. Russo's sneer is as confident as ever, and the hooks are, if anything, even catchier then those on previous attempts. It's also great to see that the band haven't stuck to formula; the pop-leanings on 2002's 'Elva', which earned them a US number one with single Seein' Red and would have been tempting to emulate, aren't as obvious here. The band combine thick distorted riffs and soaring choruses a la early work from buddies Grinspoon, with some experimental use of electronic bleeps and bops and horn sampling on tracks like the funky I Like The Way, the most interesting on the album. F.I.G.H.T. shows the band can still crank out the attitude, but unfortunately, the attitude on the rest of the album is watered down by mainstream blandness with lead single Save Me being the most obvious example; it's chorus is so predictable it hurts. She Says is better, breaking from an acoustic, ballad-like verse to a punchy, loud chorus. It's predicable, but at least it's got a kick to it, as does the hidden track Machine, which provides a hopeful glimpse of the Unwritten Law of old. It all just seems a tad ironic when Russo complains that "everything gets old... everyone is fake" on closer Walrus.  |
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