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Album Details

• Artist: Hot Gossip
• Album: Angles
• Label: Ghost
• Year of Release: 2007
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dadair on 2006-12-18

In a guess the country of origin game, you would probably plump for Burkina Faso before Italy when it comes to this vibrant and elemental rock trio. They demonstrate a surly strut that comes from being hurled out of a pub once too often. The wholly instrumental 'Intro', shows that Rough n' ready is the order of the day early on. The base of grinding, extended riffs sets a snappy tone and helps them to effortlessly slip into the vocal grit and slow percussion and guitar trundle of 'Five'. Garage rock rawness spills out like toxic waste, with Luca's poisonous spiel being most noticeable in 'Real Mess'. Numbers like this give you the impression as to what Hard-fi would sound like after 5 years in the slammer. A swirling glam interlude in the guise of 'John Rowland' provides a fresh edge, something that is continued in the dual vocal paranoia stomp of '(Things Happen) On A Tuesday'.

'Same Old' unfortunately sees a dip into the cliched rock void, losing some of the momentum and endearing bite, as the stop-start nature fails to hit home. It is hard for an offering of this ilk to avoid such pitfalls and they are soon back on track with help from an indie surge, 'Before Tonight'. A The Cribs styled stroll through drunkenness of 'La Mort', sums up the sleazy nature of life for many. All in all, this offering is captivating and manages to steer through well-trodden territory picking out different sights. What is it with the Italians, eh? They win the World Cup and now they feel ready to do anything.

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