The Parallel Amongst Ourselves
Artist: Sugar Army
©2009 Shock Records
http://www.sugararmy.com.au/

From the continent of aborigines and kangaroos comes a band that is infectious as it is hard to pigeonhole. Sugar Army is nothing like the name resembles musically. After multiple times of wrapping my head inside and out of this overseas gem, I still am somewhat at a loss for words. Two favorite bands of this foursome are Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Queens Of The Stone Age. As close as I can come, the passion of both bands has served to provide a background palette to paint a deafeningly drenched canvas of intense rock and roll. If there were any justice in this over-saturated media market of America, Sugar Army would prevail. But alas, only the indie-heads and the like would stumble upon this sonic gift.

After a somewhat ambient and poorly positioned opening track, “Parallels”, or maybe that was the whole point to build into the schizophrenic nature of the rest of the disc, “Tongues In Cheeks” takes your breath like a Joy Division or Superdrag song might do with its almost Euro-friendly vibe. “Detach” and “Maybe The Boy Who Cried Wolf Was Just Paranoid” are absolutely killer tracks, and to a slightly lesser extent “Acute”, ”Many A Mask”, a haunting percussion-less track, and the BRMC-like “Building Castles” are close behind. Not to forget, “You Are A Possession, Up For Sale” feels like they were cranking Joy Division for days, which can be a good thing.

From the rather slow, building start to the end of this disc, Sugar Army has hit the Whack A Mole square on the head. An enthusiastic, impassioned debut, this Aussie outfit has added another notch in the one-more-reason-to-not-lose-hope in the current state of rock and roll.

thecannyshark