Taking A While To Warm Up
There’s nothing quite like a deep and meaningful song to make you ponder the day away, the type with lyrics so penetrated with thoughts that the meaning of life suddenly seems like a kids quiz that even the guests of Jeremy Kyle could fathom. But don’t worry Herzoga are here to give your brain a break with a track that is far from being deep and meaningful and indeed at one stage sounds more like a flick through Autotrader. ‘Nice Car’ jerks and staggers with contempt and disgust as Matt Hicks half sings half speaks his lyrics about seeing emos about town with their fringes before reciting car names like a pre teen boy dreaming of the perfect four wheel make.
Luckily ‘Blood School’ picks things as the Stoke • on • Trent band blast with agitated indie goodness delivering a bass line that pummels into your nervous system blending with Hicks almost can’t be bothered vocals. ‘It Takes An Age’ spices things up again with a jangly mix of guitars and toe tappingly infectious drums that combine with Hicks’ Fall-esque vocals and a threatening bass to make for an addictively foreboding track that revels in sheer menace. Three tracks in and the aptly titled ‘It Takes An Age finally hints at what Herzoga can really do but by this stage even a dance floor filler like this can not dislodge the earlier images of emos and cars, like a Dashboard Confessional gig mingling with Top Gear the two just don’t go.