With their new EP, The Loud Pipes attempt to capture the rock ‘n’ roll spirit but end up trying too hard and lacking originality.
From the opening chords of their first song, “Insurrection,” The Loud Pipes reach for inspiration from some of their rock ‘n’ role models, such as Motorhead. While it is admirable that they would want to pay some homage to their heroes, The Loud Pipes take it to 11, so to speak. They get lost in the idea of trying to be just like Motorhead so much that they don’t really sound like a new band but a cheap cover act.
Still taking overdone ideas, The Loud Pipes also try to capture the popularity of mixing feedback into their EP to give the music a more rough sound.
While this could be good to give one song more texture and attitude, this feature is an ongoing theme throughout the entire EP. With so much noise distortion in each of the songs, it becomes hard to understand what exactly Tony, the lead singer, is trying to sing.
Whatever lyrics can be made out, all point to the band trying to be a new generation of hard rocking, bar brawling group of people.
In songs such as “Rock & Roll Nightmare” and “Wild Nights,” The Loud Pipes successfully address one of rock’s cheesiest characteristics: bands singing about partying, drinking, and other rock ‘n’ roll clichÇs that were made popular in the ’80s. Believe it or not, that has been done before.
After playing a local radio show last Friday morning, it was surprising to hear how fresh The Loud Pipes sounded when performing live. The lyrics were clear and there was no extra hint of noise getting in the way of the music.
With a new full-length album still in the works, perhaps The Loud Pipes should look into more original ideas rather than borrowing from every other rock act.