It can mean dependable, efficient, no-nonsense, consistent in quality. Given that work's the curse of the creative class, though, it can also mean boring, riffs-by-numbers, conventional, complacent. So which definition do they fall under? But it probably won't convert a lot of people over to noise rock: it's a standard noise rock record for people who already love the stuff.
That surprisingly hummable song was one of the tracks first released on the groups's Bandcamp page before the album came outβit's easy to see why. Even though he doesn't appear for 13 seconds, when bassist Jake Schultz comes, it feels like that's when the song actually starts. The bass also carries vocalist and guitarist Christian Lembach's verses of aspiring to be an urban threat. It's street-level creepiness that's part of noise rock's stark contrast to metal's tendencies towards fantasy and the esoteric.
Schultz falls back on the rest of the album, and while those songs are not bad by any stretch, Whores are at their strongest when he takes the wheel. Page Hamilton would be wise to have Whores write songs for him. So then, why is Clean a serviceable, not especially amazing record? Let's take a look at a few of the influences mentioned earlier. Whores could benefit for putting their perspective a little higher in the mix.
Nobody can really be the Melvinsβwe're still figuring out how much of their success is persistence, and how much of it is that Buzz Osbourne and Dale Crover are freaks of nature who were meant for each other.
KEN mode, perhaps the band whose shadow Whores live under the most, have that hunger and a willingness to tour a lot and endless ambition. Honestly, the matches on Clean 's cover should be used to light a fire under someone's ass, because while this is a decent enough record, and Whores can clearly give a tune some life, they need a little more ambition to breathe life into this material. It doesn't push or expand the genre, and it doesn't feel like that's the point: it, more or less, feels like they wanted something to put on their merch table, and an excuse to ditch town for a week, and Clean is serving that purpose.
