Recliner, by Aconite Thrill
Suggested by Rob Wagner
Reviewed by John Ingham
“I’ve not heard of them before… Great, I like discovering new bands.
“Who put it forward? Wagz… Hmm, I don’t know much of his tastes. I think our tastes do crossover somewhat, but that’s from hanging out playing Magic the Gathering over fifteen years ago. What could this be? No idea. Okay.
“What does the band name conjure? Recliner… a lazy-boy chair? Something I’d probably enjoy using but I dislike the aesthetic. … … … Oh hang on, that’s the album title. The band’s name is… Aconite Thrill?! Right. Well, that gives no hints, other than possible pretentiousness?
“Best hit play.
“Ah, emo-screamo it is. A genre I’ve always felt I should like more. Indeed, some bands in the genre I actively follow, although I find it hard to appreciate the form in general.”
[Reviewer’s note – To give it the fairest chance, I listened to it, made a few notes, and then gave it a second play the next morning.]
I didn’t like Aconite Thrill. I very nearly did… Indeed, I felt like I liked them in places, but, fleeting, the moment passed.
They have talent. Quite a lot. I can appreciate them for that, as the skill required when playing the guitars at a slight dissonance to the lyrics is great. Tight, technical work. It is also jarring. They have moments of greatness, and a plethora of emo screamy growl interspersed with lyrical singing backed by rumbling guitar and drum work. There’s samples, and plinky plonky weird bits. There are daft-bordering-on-nonsense song titles, soft whisperings and screaming emotion. All the hallmark requisites to be an emo posse have been checked off. I felt I listened to an emo-by-the-numbers album: it’s crisp, perfectly delivered, and it ticked all the boxes, but it didn’t feel standout or particularly original.
My track of choice? Caspian Seaside Holiday.
Overall, If you like the genre then there’s a good chance that you’ll like Aconite Thrill. Quite a lot, probably. They’re damn good at what they do. But they didn’t thrill me enough, so I won’t be revisiting this new discovery. 5/10.
[Craig’s Review – I listened to this yesterday, which was not a great day at the office. Work was off the charts, and I was metaphorically firefighting from 8am until 10pm. Consequently, you can view my following comments through that specific lens, because, unlike John, I hated this. It may well have been “tight, technical work,” but it presented itself as little more than a cacophony of conflicting styles and sounds from minute one and didn’t let up until almost an hour later. It suffered from the irritating desire to change things up every second bar, flitting between time signatures and scales like a crack-addled hummingbird with ADHD. It was the soundtrack to agitation, recorded when Mr Jarvis accidentally left the Music Room unlocked one day and the kids held a clandestine jam session, with no one hearing a note of the other participants and everyone keeping one eye on the door in case the teacher came back and gave them detention. 3/10, with a full point for the song titles, my standout being Rhinosepto Plastic Sea Horse, although admittedly 1000 Track Mix Tape felt rather apt.]