Sometimes, first impressions suck. When reviewing albums from bands I have not heard before, I always keep an open mind. Who am I to say that a band sucks? Just because it isn’t for me, doesn’t mean that there isn’t a mass of people that would enjoy it. If I don’t like an album the first time I listen to it, I always listen to it two or three times again to either validate my feeling that the album is crap, or to let it grow on me. Either way, I always try to spin the positive, and tout the positives of the music and balancing it with any negatives. Some of my favorite bands sounded like crap the first time around, but now are some of the most played music on my ipod. Such is the way it went with Hightime’s latest album, Ishi Prende.
Hailing from Adelaide, Australia, the band from Oz features some very cutting edge vocals from Nina, and kick ass guitar, bass and drums from Reuben, Jay and Dave, respectively. The band lists their musical influences from Punk, Reggae, Hardcore, Swing, Jazz, Metal, Hip Hop, Ska, Flamenco, Gypsy, People, Politics, Revolution, Change, Friends and Family, in other words, pretty much everything.
Ishi Prende, on first listen comes across as a hard hitting, crazy mishmash of different styles of music that, surprisingly, come together really well, to form an album that won’t leave you wishing you had bought the latest Power Rangers movie instead. 13 tracks leave you wondering where the next one will lead. Heavy and angry, “Beer Garden,” “Lag Behind,” “Lay Low” and “Share Your Smokes” are hard hitting and fast moving while “Don’t Move Away” and “Loan Shark” start out kind of goofy, and move into “Holy Shit This Is Good” pretty fast.
My favorite song on the whole album is the last track, “Die For Something.” It’s catchy, moves really well and keeps going on and on in your head even after the song has ended. Don’t forget to wait the song out, about two minutes after it ends, there is an alternate version of “Beer Garden” that has a lighter flow to it than the first track and both are enjoyable.
The right and left of it is I really enjoyed this band’s latest project. It’s the third one for them, and leaves me waiting in anticipation for the next one. So check it out, and if it doesn’t appeal to you the first time, take it for another spin or two, and if it still doesn’t work for you, then enjoy your Mighty Morphing Power Rangers.