The Cold Beat

Get Safe

Written by: PP on 13/12/2010 03:19:44

Three releases, three writers here at Rockfreaks.net. So far TL and AP have had the pleasure to experience the charming, casual, punk-induced rock of The Cold Beat, and with the release of their debut full length "Get Safe", it was deemed to be my turn to check these guys out. I'm glad I did, because they share a whole lot in common with one of my favorite punk acts from recent years, The Gaslight Anthem. They rely on similar chilled out, emotionally charged rock disguised in a punk outfit. And like Gaslight, The Cold Beat also borrow quite a bit from a seminal artist. Where the latter's all about translating Bruce Springsteen's sound into a more modern punk rock sound, these guys do the same to the garage-ish sound of The Replacements, fine-tuning it in places to make it fit better in today's musical climate.

Essentially, "Get Safe" portrays dark, melancholic punk rock that's merely less Midwestern-flavored than The Gaslight Anthem. It often strays into garage rock and indie-ish sounds, as on "Copper Green", for instance, where the distortion on the vocals kinda makes the dude sound like The Thermals vocalist due to its garage flavor. In fact, placing The Cold Beat halfway between the two aforementioned bands wouldn't be entirely out of question, and it's a mouth-watering mixture if you ask me. A song like "Snake Oil" is full of raw emotion, which drips through the shouted wails before morphing into a mellow sing-along during the chorus. Songs like this one, or "Hook, Line And Sinker", are winners that should push The Cold Beat into wider recognition in due time.

The record is very unconventional to punk rock given it's relaxed tempo throughout, and its apparent lack of desire on embedding energy within the songs. That's for the better, however, because many of these songs simply wouldn't work if they were any faster. They rely on a melancholic atmosphere that occasionally recalls American Steel, and maybe even a more subtle version of Alkaline Trio to deliver their message. And this is one of the main reasons why "Get Safe" is so enjoyable through and through. The emotion lying underneath the surface is the key to opening up this record, so give it a few tries before dismissing it as "bland", which it may appear on first listen. Definitely a grower.

7

Download: Copper Green, Snake Oil, I'll Follow
For the fans of: The Gaslight Anthem, American Steel, The Replacements
Listen: Myspace

Release date 24.08.2010
Self-Released

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