Milk Teeth

Vile Child

Written by: PP on 27/12/2016 15:49:58

It’s that time of the year where we look back at releases that flew underneath our radar throughout the year. One of these is “Vile Child”, the debut album of grunge revivalists Milk Teeth from Stroud, UK. Basically, if Title Fight played grunge, they would be Milk Teeth, to summarize the record in a nutshell. In other words, they find themselves in a similarly blurry territory in between multiple genres ranging from emo, post-hardcore, grunge and punk rock, led by the prominent vocal display by female lead singer Becky Blomfield. She owns a curious range, freely alternating between dreamy and lofty vocals to attitude-fueled punk rock singing all the way down to pissed off grunge screams that wail and screech somewhere in between Kurt Cobain, Brody Dalle, and Courtney Love.

Interested yet? You should be. Such blend of genres with 90s nostalgia doesn’t come around very often. Take “Brickwork”, for instance, which features Nirvana style grungy rage, before morphing into Title Fight style treble-charged screeching guitar echo and faded back instrumentation - think “Hyperview” - and back again into raw Seattle style sound moments later. At the same time, the band channel the awkward 90s introverted indie/emo of Pavement on “Swear Jar (again)” characterized by purposefully off-tune guitar melodies to create that quirk effect the legends were so renowned for.

The third style on prominent display throughout “Vile Child” is surprisingly catchy songs, where the dreamy female vocals by Blomfield come to full fruition. “Burger Drop” is a good example with an infectious vocal line. Here, the raw and unadulterated screams and off-tune elements are toned back in favour of a more streamlined and polished expression, which in this scribe’s opinion, works much better than the full-blown screaming and cacophonic style of songs like “Get A Clue”, for instance. Sure, the latter channels grunge origins authentically, but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s a good song.

Overall, “Vile Child” is a fine debut that provides the final bridge between grunge origins and bands like Title Fight, Superheaven, Balance And Composure, Simmer, etc. who have long been flirting with influences from the genre. Milk Teeth goes all the way to the other side and instead influences grunge with elements from post-hardcore, emo, and punk. It’s an interesting effort, even if it’s not among the best this year.

7

Download: Brickwork, Brain Food, Burger Drop
For the fans of: Title Fight, Nirvana, Simmer, Courtney Love
Listen: Facebook

Release date 29.01.2016
Hopeless Records

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