Ash - Free All Angels
Review by Dan Grote

Ash - Free All Angels
Label: Kinetic Records
Rating:

Ash is that rare band that is able to write many different kinds of songs well. As a matter of fact, it is this songwriting ability, combined with their musicianship, that makes the jarring transitions between songs on their US debut "Free All Angels" entirely excusable. The sixteen-song album vacillates between straight rock, punk-pop, and ballads at a frenetic pace that can catch the listener off guard in places but never to the point of being offensive. Guitar licks, distortion, and strings are the band's tricks of the trade, often bringing back memories of the early to mid 90's. However, Ash still manage to carve their own personality.

The album starts off with two of the more straight-up rock pieces on the album, "Walking Barefoot" and "Shining Light." These two songs, especially "Walking," attempt to channel the breezy alt rock-lite of the Gin Blossoms, which is why the single/track three, "Burn Baby Burn," comes off as the first of many non sequiturs on the album, presenting itself as a punk pop piece to compete with the current wave of New Found Glories and Box Car Racers.

"Burn Baby Burn" becomes "Candy," one of the album's handful of well-crafted ballads, with its repeat chorus of "Don't you know it's alright to be alone / you can make it on your own" and one of the few songs of this genre where the string section doesn't seem like an annoying contrivance.

From this point, the album continues to be full of surprises. "Submission" is a dance piece to rival anything the mod scene in Britain has put out since the late 70's. "Shark" kicks off with some good old �90's style distortion and an attention-grabbing bassline and keeps up the intensity later with some impressive guitar licks and pedal usage. "Sometimes," another of the slow jams, features a little more funk and lines like "Cigarettes keep you skinny and your mind off the rain."

Closing out the album proper are "There's a Star" and "World Domination," two songs that couldn't be more different from one another. "There's a Star" opens with an orchestral mood-setter worthy of a Bond theme and then shifts into a Polynesian guitar rhythm, all of which makes for a good next-to-laster. "World Domination" is pure three-chord punk energy wherein the lead singer continually belts "Gimme gimme world domination."

There are three bonus tracks on the album; however, they seem a bit more raw and less ambitious by comparison, as if in their early days the members of Ash had just been listening to a lot of Violent Femmes and Weezer. Of course, on a sixteen-track album, Ash could have certainly afforded to cut one or two songs without compromising the quality of the album. "Cherry Bomb" and "Nicole" tend to be a bit less remarkable but have some tough competition to begin with.

VERDICT: Probably one of the best debuts this year, "Free All Angels" attempts to and succeeds at attacking the listener from all sides. The band's influences are clear but not to the point where Ash have no identity themselves. Already a big hit across the pond, Ash should have no problem finding fans in the States.