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5 out of 10
Often the easiest reviews to write are for the extremes, for the great it’s very is easy to write a glowing report and for the abysmal it’s easy to completely condemn them. Unfortunately for me (and perhaps Rieser) this is a tricky one.
Essentially ’The Drinking Den’ does absolutely nothing wrong, perfectly acceptable middle of the road indie music, but that’s it, it’s distinctly average in possibly the most insulting way the term ’average’ can be used.
The problem seems to be a complete lack of hooks; there are literally no features that catch your attention. It’s all pleasant enough and every song ends in a crescendo (which is nice but nothing endearing), Plus the artwork is lovely, but the whole pub / beer aesthetic feels a little too cliché for my liking and it’s appearance is very perceiving, it all feels like a slight over compensation.
I’m trying my hardest to be positive in this review I mean, 90% of Bob Dylan’s work didn’t have hooks but that didn’t stop him, the difference being though Dylan wrote pure poetry and ’The Drinking Den’ definitely doesn’t do that. Some lyrics are better than the majority you might hear from some of their peers, but they’re still nothing to write home about, especially the track ’The Ringmaster’ which at times felt so contrived and forced, as if they predetermined to write a song about the Circus. I won’t lie though, when the Circus guitar riff kicked in it raised a smile.
To summarise, ’The Drinking Den’ is just too average to stand out from the crowd, but it doesn’t offend me and can and will mostly likely be pleasant listening for people who enjoy this kind of thing.
Listen: www.myspace.com/riesermusic
Tracklist:
1. Drinking Den
2. The Actor
3. Call Me Round
4. The Ringmaster
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