Friday 10 September 2010

Go Back To The Zoo's Benny Blisto Meets Expectations



Writing a hit song before you even have released an album or anything else is already remarkable. Having three hit songs before your album is even finished is insane. But Go Back To The Zoo pulled it off. I experienced their energetic live performances a few times already like on Lowlands and was at the album's release party. Although I bought the record at that party before it hit the stores I didn't have time to come up with a proper review until now.

Go Back To The Zoo - Benny Blisto (Ronald Says 7 out of 10)
'Beam Me Up' was featuring in a Nike commercial and they followed it with 'Electric' which lives up to its title: an energetic jumpy song. The band squeezed another hit out with 'Hey DJ'. And of course all of these songs appear on their album. But by knocking out hits one by one they also raised expectations for their debut album.

And the album even has a few more of those songs up its sleeves like 'Fuck You' and current single 'I'm The Night (See You Later)'. They are all in the same style: a catchy jumpy guitar riff, steady drum groove, high tempo and easy to remember lyrics. This doesn't change the fact that it are good songs.

The album has a few slower songs as well like 'Gotta Wake Up' and 'Sweet World'. They are the weaker moments of the album and show that there's still a lot to gain. Singer Cas Hieltjes isn't a brilliant vocalist and needs the energy of the band and songs to excel. On the slower songs his voice but also the rest of the band lack the strength and subtlety to really pull it off.

But the band shows that they are willing to take some risks and are looking beyond their hit songs. There comes a time when they can't follow the same recipe over and over again and have to grow both in sound and song writing. And that only comes with playing as much as possible and keep putting up their lively shows for which they have the perfect ingredients with this album.


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