Leaf Fat - Underworld Kingdom
Reviewed on Jan 31, 2006 by Tom
Leaf Fat is another one of those bands from the obscure East that are quickly making a name for themselves around their part of the world. Having just finished off a successful tour with their compatriots Multiball just a few weeks ago, the Ljubjlana based outfit seems ready enough to break out of their own country.
The musical content of their debut full-length eagerly backs up that notion, as “Underworld Kingdom” is a very commendable effort, that in spite of its geographical origins, leaves me surprised once more to find such high standard quality blasting through my speakers. Opener “Individual Happiness” is a stormer of an track that sees the band ditch out a branch of emotive post-hardcore that sits very easily on the ear, with a heavy anthemic approach that will have fans of Story Of The Year, From Autumn To Ashes, The Used, Funeral For A Friend and other such bands that have a heavy sound drifting on powerful yet poppy melodies, wetting their lips with appetite for more. The salvo continues with “Next Century”, a melodic hardcore tune that reminds me of Italy’s Sun Eats Hours in their best form, complete with shouty gangstyle vocals and the obligatory screams that are a re-occurring trademark of a Leaf Fat song it seems. Even though the band sounds nothing alike, you could say their music is the ideal mix of the poignancy of a band like Thursday and the emo-pop tendencies of Portugal’s Easyway, with the feel of a band like My Chemical Romance. Just like our very own The Maple Room, Leaf Fat are a band that, given time, could break the strangle-hold the American scene seems to hold over the EU scene, choking off a multitude of talented European bands before they even get to show but a glimpse of their cunning. It’s not all rosemary and shunshine with “Underworld Kingdom”, as over the course of these 13 tracks, the band falls prey to using too much of the same tricks and patterns to make their music work, and especially the second half of the CD seems a bit too linear and formulaic to really make an impact because of that, though the base is very, very solid indeed! Another thing that is difficult to get over at first is that the bands roots as a poppunk formation are still clearly audible, imbuing their sound with too many catchy riffs for a post-hardcore outfit of this ilk. But overall, this is a very fine debut from an emerging Slovenian band, that will surely please fans of the genre.
The main problem of EU bands is the fact that with the recent boost in easy-accessible promotion of the internet (thank you, Myspace!), decent exposure for bands is even more difficult as the internet tends to break the opportunities for a lot of bands with more supply than demand. There are only a few bands that seem to have the right ingredients to rally fans across the Union for their cause (Funeral For A Friend for instance), but if Leaf Fat’s live show is as good as this album indicates, and if they can keep devising tracks the likes of “Elegy”, their future is looking very bright indeed. “Underworld Kingdom” is another testimony, together with recent releases from Slovenia’s Multiball and Serbia’s Tea Break, that the Eastern regions of Europe are rapidly developing a praise-worthy musical scene of their own, one that is bolstering a lot of raw talent deserving of a listen. Leaf Fat is one of such bands, of whom the best is surely yet to come.
Album Information
| Best Song: | Sunfall |
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| Medium/Type: | Full-Length |
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| Released: | June 6th, 2005 |
| Record Label: | CPZ |
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| Viewed: | 1253 times |
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Tracklisting
- ID Intro
- Individual Happiness
- Next Century
- Concealed
- Sunfall
- Amnesia
- Elegy
- Deep Inside
- Untitled
- T.W.T.
- Winter Song
- Smile
- U.K.
