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The Duel - 'All Aboard The Crazy Train' (Ffrukit! Records) Print E-mail
CD Reviews
Written by Dom Daley   
Thursday, 17 November 2011 05:15

crazytrainCOVER-300x300'Crazy Train' - Nah, not that "All aboard the crazy train" malarkey but the Duel's 'Crazy Train'.

 

Starting out I had to check that they hadn't roped PiL Johnny Rotten in to sing the opening lines. With a strange sort of disjointed opener neither crashing in nor easing the listener in it's sort of out there to be fair, not leaving me with much feeling either way; if anything it's a little punk prog. The PiL comparison is a theme that can't be ignored; sure it's a bit more straight ahead and a little less eclectic but the style is in there. Finding myself halfway through the album and nothing has really grabbed my attention apart from 'New Dreams' which has a decent melody on the chorus but sounds like it was recorded in a tube station tunnel. 'Lonliness' has some good effects in the background of this heartbreak ballad (or as close as you're going to get to one).
 
16 tracks is a lot to plough through to be honest but the Siouxie Sioux style 'I'm On To You', if the Banshees were to rock their shit up it might sound like this, is a good 'un, as are a few, but the production isn't the best and for every decent track there is an equally bland one which is a shame because had the running order been different and the album almost halved and had a much brighter production then it might have had a different reaction because the second half of this album is a lot stronger in my opinion; Shame that.

 

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