Failure By Design: Call This a Demo, Punk?
Posted by jamie on Oct 10, 2011
Failure By Design
Call this a demo, Punk? – Self-released, 2011
11th October 2011
Jamie
“It was recorded by our friend Barclay Brennan in his room, using only one mic” Miz, out of Failure by Design, types enthusiastically, submitting their demo, “so were really pleased with the outcome..” .
Call this a demo, Punk? is, of course, a little bit raw in places, but at no point does that detract from how enjoyable this little disc is. In fact, such is the energy that’s packed in to these short, spiky little pop-punk tunes, that the minimal levels of production just add a boisterous, peppy sort of charm to it. It’s pleasingly melodic, too, in a similar way to some of the more emotional pop-punk that was around in the 1990s before it became emo. And I mean that in a very good way: when pop-punk still had balls, but all of a sudden had bigger emotions to struggle with, the very best of it managed to channel those frustrations back in to the music and deliver startlingly clear emotional messages with angst and immediacy and then hammer them home with a killer melody. That’s exactly what Failure By Design have achieved here.
Yes, it’s only a demo, but it’s not that short and it’s ever so sweet: the hooks dropping in just the right places and the songs embellished in just the right places by any combination from the three vocals and two guitars used in making this record. It’s stripped down just enough to really showcase the excellent quality of the songs, but they’ve got enough behind them to really hit you from the first listen. They’re great fun, too: catchy, but with real substance: the melodies will keep you coming back, and the songs have enough in them for you to discover something new each time you do. It’s a winning combination, and makes for an excellent little record. A demo not just of promise, but of genuine quality.
Enjoy Failure By Design here, on facebook here, and get the demo from here.
