The Nerve
Audiodacity

Label: Bird's Robe Records
Three similar bands: Teal/Like Thieves/The Ugly Kings

Rating: HHHHHHH (3/7)
Reviewer: Daniel Källmalm
Tracks
1. 14 Again
2. Witness
3. Poser (First World Problems)
4. Be Myself
5. Excuse Me
6. There May Come A Time
7. The Insight
8. Down There
9. Respect


Band:
Vocals - Ezekiel Ox
Guitars - Glenn Proudfoot
Drums - Lucius Borich
Bass - Davarj Thomas
Audio/Visual Facilitator - Peter "Reggie" Bowman


Discography:
Audiodacity (2013)


Guests:


Info:
Music by Proudfoot/Ox
Produced by The Nerve/Bowman
Recorded and mixed by Peter ‘Reggie’ Bowman @ Screamlouder Productions, Warrandyte, Australia
Drums recorded and produced by Lucius Borich at Keysound Studios, Sydney Australia
Mastered by Cam Mitchell @ 2acrestudio
Artwork by Josh Meney @ Non-Entity

Released 2021-07-16
Reviewed 2022-01-30

Links:
tangledthoughtsofleaving.com
bandcamp
birds robe



läs på svenska

The Nerve is something of a supergroup, from Australia. Consisting of members that are reported to be from iconic bands that few outside Australia would be aware of, none of the mentioned seemed familiar to me. They released one album called Audiodacity in 2013, and that is the album now reissued by Bird’s Robe and with it the band sees an international release. The cover looks very typical of hard rock, very little makes it appear interesting, logo and style is without imagination. But the music is what matters, and at least they have the audacity to keep it short, but is it good?

Unoriginal is one of the words that pop into my head when giving this album multiple spins, good thing about a short album is that you can get to know it quickly. You can also grow bored with it quickly. The vocals are groovy, as is the overall sound, classic hardrock, aggressive and catchy, but without original ideas. And the production gives it a fairly flat sound, more dynamics would have been preferrable. But it is an album that should be very accessible to anyone, and at least they have some groove, but they aren’t particularly great.

Sure, you can listen to it, and it is fairly easy to like. As easy it is to like, as easy is it to dislike due to the lack of ideas and the feeling of repetitiveness the flat sound and similar songs create. It seems as though they rushed through it, created in less than an hour and didn’t really bother much more than that. Playing it safe with tried and tested structures of riffs, groove, and solos, but nowhere can I find anything memorable. It is a forgettable album, it looks, and it sounds, very forgettable.

There is probably an audience for this album, after all there are audience for practically everything. But I cannot see that many will hold this up as a favourite album, it isn’t memorable or exciting enough for that. For a supergroup it feels like a failure, but perhaps they were going for mediocre, and in that case it is a successful album.

HHHHHHH