23 Dec 2024
Damn The Maps - Damn The Maps - Input Output
07 Aug 2008 // A review by mrgreen
Album opener We Thought We'd Seen It All sets a blistering pace from the get-go; it's all At The Drive In-style, 'kamikaze' riffage, snarly rock vocals, and a tight bottom-end. Cynicism toward the modern surveillance-age is evident throughout ("I can be on video no matter where I go/You got cameras, cameras"), before a frenetic guitar solo heralds a crushing climax to a rather rocking-rollercoaster of a first track.
All Aboard leaps from the speakers, with a blissful, sing-a-long vibe. This track has been garnering some radio play of late, too, and it's no surprise: it's a light, inoffensive head-bobbing feel-good melody, accompanied by some like-minded guitars, and it leaves you with a smile on your face. I wasn't too crash-hot on the Wheels On The Bus vocal breakdown during the bridge, but the closing chorus was strong enough to dust that memory from the mantle.
In total contradiction to the title, the albums' first ballad Happy Ending blends hauntingly melancholic strings, robust rhythm section and Martin Green's fragile, 'pleading' vocal, to deliver the stellar moment of the album.
It's a brooding, eerie-in-a-Radiohead-kinda-way moment (that's pretty eerie), and it's clenched at your collar until the very end.
Fans of fellow Aussie rockers Something For Kate or You Am I will definitely find something in Damn The Maps, as will Radiohead enthusiasts, and it's not that they sound like each other, but you could certainly see the bands rubbing shoulders.
Combining that 'feel' with the focused songwriting of the trio, and Input Output sets off a phonic-flare, announcing to the Australian rock music scene that Damn The Maps have arrived.
Esteban Crooke - Beat Magazine 6 August 2008
Album opener We Thought We'd Seen It All sets a blistering pace from the get-go; it's all At The Drive In-style, 'kamikaze' riffage, snarly rock vocals, and a tight bottom-end. Cynicism toward the modern surveillance-age is evident throughout ("I can be on video no matter where I go/You got cameras, cameras"), before a frenetic guitar solo heralds a crushing climax to a rather rocking-rollercoaster of a first track.All Aboard leaps from the speakers, with a blissful, sing-a-long vibe. This track has been garnering some radio play of late, too, and it's no surprise: it's a light, inoffensive head-bobbing feel-good melody, accompanied by some like-minded guitars, and it leaves you with a smile on your face. I wasn't too crash-hot on the Wheels On The Bus vocal breakdown during the bridge, but the closing chorus was strong enough to dust that memory from the mantle.
In total contradiction to the title, the albums' first ballad Happy Ending blends hauntingly melancholic strings, robust rhythm section and Martin Green's fragile, 'pleading' vocal, to deliver the stellar moment of the album.
It's a brooding, eerie-in-a-Radiohead-kinda-way moment (that's pretty eerie), and it's clenched at your collar until the very end.
Fans of fellow Aussie rockers Something For Kate or You Am I will definitely find something in Damn The Maps, as will Radiohead enthusiasts, and it's not that they sound like each other, but you could certainly see the bands rubbing shoulders.
Combining that 'feel' with the focused songwriting of the trio, and Input Output sets off a phonic-flare, announcing to the Australian rock music scene that Damn The Maps have arrived.
Esteban Crooke - Beat Magazine 6 August 2008
About Damn The Maps
Martin began performing in Hamilton under the name Nervous Wreck in 1998 with guitarist Ryan Tattersall & Jay Pinfold, playing around 100 shows before moving to Auckland in 2000 and then Melbourne in 2001.
There he played in several line ups before meeting Nick Riley in 2003.
They changed the band name to Damn The Maps in around 2005 and have played hundreds of shows in Australia and New Zealand.
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