Artist: Army Of The Universe
Title: The Hipster Sacrifice
Genre: Electro Rock
Release Date: 31st May 2013
Label: Metropolis Records
Album Review
Clever title, 'The Hipster Sacrifice', or is it? It's all arch and knowing, a wink and a nod to the really cool kids who laugh at the hipsters and see them for what they are. But then, aren't hipsters the arch, knowing cool kids in the first place? And there's a slight smug shrug running throughout this latest album by ARMY OF THE UNIVERSE.
So, as an arch and knowing hipster reviewer, let me offer you up the really bad stuff first. 'Coin Operated Girl' wants you to believe its sleazy disco swagger is sexy. But it's about as sexy as a tramp. It reeks of retro gone wrong, it's lyrically appalling – I'm sure they'll tell you it's deliberate – and the crashes and bleeps and electro huff are empty and soulless. On the title track, there's a similar sexless pout, the synths sound cold and the manic scratching and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach just irritating. What else? There's a track called 'Chillin''. Do we do chillin' anymore? And 'Break The Walls' is something your mother would probably denounce as “just noise”, and for once she'd be right.
It's not all terrible. The bland and repetitive vocals get a helping hand and a much needed lift by Chibi on 'Until The End', and the song swoops and swirls admirably. 'A Visionary Story' is a decent enough stab at '80's pop, the smell of hairspray and jerky shoulder padded dancing all over it. A good chorus glues it all nicely together, and it feels organic and less forced than much on 'The Hipster Sacrifice'. And final song 'Mine' takes a similar stance. It begins sounding like KIM WILDE's 'Cambodia' before strutting off to the dance floor in a flurry of twinkling piano and bubbling synths.
There's not enough to save it though really, with too much bland and too much over-clever, jostling greedily amongst the few good tracks. And by almost denouncing the very thing that they are, ARMY OF THE UNIVERSE bizarrely bring to mind a MARILLION quote: “ And what do we call assassins who accuse assassins anyway?” Indeed.
Tracklist
01. The Hipster Sacrifice
02. A Visionary Story
03. Pretty Unconsciousness
04. Until The End
05. Chillin'
06. In Another Place
07. Break The Walls
08. The Weight Of The World
09. Coin Operated Girl
10. Mine
Line-up
Trebla
Lord K
Dave
Chris Vrenna
Website
https://www.facebook.com/ArmyOfTheUniverse
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 4
Sound: 6
Total: 5 / 10
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