Unashamedly aligning themselves with a familiar-if-not-slightly-aged rock’n’roll sound, Uptown Ace have come forth with their debut album, 1850. With polished songs and near-flawless production, 1850 has all the pieces to become an album with substance but ends up hindering itself by sticking unadventurously close to its rock’n’roll roots.
The album boasts a full, robust sound for a three-piece band and from start to finish, there never feels like there’s any dwindling moments, unnecessary silences or bad mixes in the production. The songs flow seamlessly from chorus to verse, the hooks have a certain thump to give that desired hard rock sound and overall it stays incredibly true to its genre.
However, the album tries to be a little too rock’n’roll for its own good. The vocalist opts to use the classic rock music whine – turning utterances of the word “man” into “maywnh,” “when did I forget,” turns into, “when did ahh forget,” and so on. Combining this with addition of a lot of jarring forced rhymes, the vocals quickly become repetitive and draining.
However the most frustrating part of 1850 is the songs are riddled with moments of intrigue – brilliant drum lead ups, bass solos or moody guitar sections – which then lead up to nothing and jump back to the chorus leaving the listener with a ‘what was that it?’ moment. The guitar solos never seem to break the pace of the song either, and the whole album seems to be screaming for dynamic sections in order to break a monotonous structural similarity between every song.
Uptown Ace show a lot of potential with 1850’s polished and safe style, but without any truly gripping moments and its roots remaining far too strongly in its classic pub rock sound, the album will probably only cater to a very specific crowd of pub-going rockers you’d see running around Smith St on a weekend. However, that crowd is in for an absolute feast. It’s just a shame they’ll be the only ones to truly enjoy it.
BY THOMAS BRAND
Best Track: Forlorn
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: YOU AM I, AC/DC
In A Word: Niche
