Over the past few months, boasty comments, mini feuds with rival bands and change of moniker have all kept Viva Brother‘s profile up. The self styled ‘Gritpop’ band have made enough noise about themselves, so much so that anything less than perfection was going to give them trouble.
The album opens with ‘New Year’s Day’ and it does have a memorable opening and chorus. It soon becomes clear that ‘Viva Brother’ are a band you’re either going to love or hate. Current single ‘Still Here’ follows and by the time we get to ‘David’, it seems with free downloads and previous releases, we’ve probably already heard the best tracks on the album.
‘Viva Brother’ are obviously a lads band, rooted in the Oasis vs Blur britpop era but their gritted up Oasis stylings and Lee Newell’s shouty vocals get a little tiresome, which is a pity since the band managed to deliver live. What’s missing here is the energy the band ooze on stage.
Half way through the album, we get the pick me up of ‘Darling Buds Of May,’ which stands head and shoulders above the tracks either side of it. Unfortunately, the non singles become predictable, with guitar hooks and lyrics becoming formulaic. Pity, I was hoping for this to be good so I could see Newell stick up his two fingers at everyone.