BHF

Shoplifting At Stockmarkets

Written by: PP on 22/12/2013 21:50:08

BHF is a skate punk quarter from Austria who sent us their sophomore album "Shoplifting At Stock Markets" for review consideration earlier this year. It's an album that piqued my interest for its peculiar title, which in itself immediately lets you know we're dealing with politically charged punk rock. Because let's be honest here - what other styles would feature such outspoken criticism of the financial sector in their album title than punk rock bands?

The songs on the album demonstrate conventional European style skate punk, meaning the riffs and chords are played in far looser manner than their tighter American counterparts, plus there's less focus on sing alongs in the vocal melodies rather than on subtle, catchy parts instead. The vocals are slightly rawer than is the norm in skate punk, featuring more aggression and coarseness but that is only natural considering the social commentary exhibited by the lyricism in general. "Confidently Shit Talking Assholes" is the highlight on the record, featuring solid melody undertones in its chorus, here recalling material from Paint It Black's punk oriented tracks, but hints of Lifetime and Kid Dynamite can also be discovered upon closer inspection. Here we're leaning a little bit towards melodic hardcore, but holistically, "Shoplifting At Stockmarkets" is a basic skate punk record which merely features rawer vocals than what is typical for the genre.

While there are a few decent tracks on the record, it has a few issues that need to be worked on before BHF will become a band capable of drawing international, or even national interest. One, the vocals are sharp, but feel very monotonic throughout the record. They don't convey an identity to the band or charisma as well as they should. Second, the songs simply need be better written. Melodies are OK as they stand now, but not much better than that. There's a ton of great skate punk floating around even in Europe alone; the competition is significantly better for the time being.

Download: Seconds, Confidently Shit Talking Assholes, Cellphones And Warlords
For the fans of: Protected Left, All Selected
Listen: Facebook

Release date 24.05.2013
LaserLife Records

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.