Reviews: Coffee Shower/Dependent - Side By Side
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Scratch Records (http://lists.scratchrecords.com/viewtopic.php?t=28)
Coffee Shower are known as the hardest working band in Italy and should soon be known worldwide for their great melodic hardcore. They use catchy choruses and melodic guitar tracks to make them a bit special in this genre. Driven by a true punkrock attitude they deliver punkpop ear candy with well practised skill. Dependent is a pearl in the Dutch Hardcore scene: fast, aggressive and intense. This band will keep you listening with a constant tension from the first to the last note. Powerful music backing the amazing and unique voice of their vocalist.
Euro Punk (http://www.europunk.net)
You might have been wondering why this annoying pop-up featuring two fairly unknown bands is disturbing your fluent internet pleasure at this so-called website named Europunk.net. I'll give you two damn good reasons: both bands live shows and this split cd released by yours truly NH-N records from Italy.
First up is Italian band Coffee Shower. After I downloaded their opening track "Side by side" I had my doubts about this band. Nothing very wrong with the track though: solid melodic speedy punk. Mediocre describes it best I guess. However, my opinion got a good twist when hearing the following five songs. Although not all superior, energetic crackers like "Your Mommy said" and danceable bouncy gems such as "Freedom fighter" bare respect. My only real complaint is that the vocals sound a bit weak from time to time and even sound a bit out of tune. After a few times listening you'll get used to this though and I must admit that it at least sounds true. Coffee Shower amazes with some songs, but is stuck in mediocrity with the other few songs. With some time though, this band could become a hella lot more then they are now; as the potential showed on the better tracks tastes like more.
Next to strike is Dependent. This Dutch based band hailing from Eindhoven basically fires songs right at any listener; whether interested or not. What will you get to hear? Drumbeats fired as gunshots coming from an Uzi, melodies at warped speed, nasal singing switching to screaming in less than a millisecond and hardcore outbreaks in every song. Basically all six songs are pretty similar. Straight forward fast paced punk rock that bares many hardcore influences, call it speed punk if you will and mixed up with more melancholic and melodious parts. Their set of songs even shines brighter than the first half of the cd. While all six songs are energetic winners here, the last two are truly remarkable. One being just a powerful hardcore song, the other one hanging more towards emo-core. Is it just coincidence that these two are the newest songs on here? I don't think so: let's hope this means this band still grows over the years. Their full length that I expect to come next year or so should blow the listeners brains out as much as they are able to do that live.
The conclusion: an excellent split by two different bands from two different countries. If you're into energetic melodic punk rock, then this will rock your world. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Give both bands a chance and catch them live in either Italy or the Netherlands on their 'Side by side' release tour. To finish in both bands native tongue: uitstekend / ben fatto!
