Subsource Album Review
Subsource – Tales from the Doombox (Doombox Records) – Album Review
Words by Amy Redmond
London-based cyberpunks Subsource have been touring for four years and it’s starting to pay off. They have had good press for their live performances, which is where this, their debut album, will come to life. As it is it needs to sit in context, a ground breaking new sound it is not.
With the album artwork a piece by the ‘South African Banksy’, street artist Faith47, it features South African coins, mobile phones and bank logos and the inscription ‘build you up to tear us down.’ These boys certainly have social and political opinions to share. But to counterbalance this, they have embraced the new whilst nodding to their dance roots, having created a Subsource iPhone rave app, with a flashing glow stick and lighter, which is pretty cool.
In this genre busting time, they describe themselves as a mix between dubstep, electronica and metal, they’ve definatley over-listened to The Prodigy in their time. But after the aggressive teenage punky angst of track 1 on the album, it takes some unexpectedly inviting roads; dubby, reggae, hip-hop, drum & bass, electro-rock and even ska sounds. Sometimes it works and this feels like something really new and exciting. Often it’s the lyrics that let them down the hardest, obvious drug talk ‘the bass kicks in like anthetemine’ is boring. But play it to hundreds of sweaty people at a festival and they will be right there with them.
Then suddenly, the most listenable track yet, the chill out track ‘New Bones’, although synth and dubsteped up, doesn’t fit with the rest of the album at all. Not to take away from what I imagine is an incredible live sound, but their next challenge is to take that sound, just like The Prodigy did, and translate it onto a record packed with the same power.
Tales From The Doombox is released 5th April 2010 and you can get a FREE Album Track Download of ‘Disarm’ by clicking here
