The Beat Surrender

Nine Black Alps are a Manchester four piece, but make no bones about the fact that their musical heart lies very much in early 90’s Seattle. This is a band that have taken the blueprint of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ and converted it into a searing album that burns with the same raw intensity that fuelled Cobain and co all those years ago.

The blueprint in question is punk grunge mixed with the odd slower and more melodic tracks. Strangely enough for a band that are renowned already for their energetic and fiery live performances, it was the quieter moments on Everything Is that have left a longer lasting impression on me than the heavier tracks.

Two of my favourite songs on the album are two of these quieter tracks. Behind Your Eyes is a dainty, sweet acoustic track that pops up in the middle of the album and is something of a surprise as all the tracks that precede it are paced at breakneck speed. The vocals are superbly delivered by Sam Forrest and show just how good his voice really is, if any track was gonna find him wanting it would be this one, instead he rises to the occasion and delivers a beautiful and emotive performance. The other track that comes closest to this is Intermission. My favourite though is Intermission, I had the melody and chorus ringing round my head for days after hearing it, especially the bit where he sings “I hope you’re happy, I hope your prayers are answered, I hope you feed your family when my ash is scattered�.

These two tracks do show that Nine Black Alps are more than one trick ponies, the album on the main though is fast and furious with the volume set to ten. It really does rattle along at a fairly frenetic pace; twelve tracks are squeezed into the thirty five minutes it lasts. I like that though, far too many bands these days insist on trying to make their albums as long as they can and end up with filler tracks cluttering it, watering down the quality in the process.

You know what you are in for from the off as a fuzz of noise greets you on album opener Get Your Guns, then it’s into the big rock chorus as David Jones (guitar/bass), Martin Cohen (bass/guitar) and James Galley (drums) get into a rhythm as they match Forrest all the way. Cosmopolitan continues the Nirvana homage as it could quite easily fit onto any of the Foo Fighters albums; it’s got that punchy drive to it.

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