BENCH PRESS

“Bench Press”

(Album Review)

Melbourne post-rock cross garage four-piece Bench Press released their self-titled album on the 25th of August via Poison City Records, the same label that boasts Camp Cope, The Bennies, Luca Brasi and The Smith Street Band. It is easy to see why Bench Press are signed to the same label as these Aussie favourites; their sound is somewhere between The Smith Street Band and Dune Rats. Vocalist Jack Stavrakis said of the album “lyrically this album is all about introspection – looking closely at yourself and being honest about your own situation in an attempt to better understand how you feel – to learn from this and to be the best you can be.”

The introspective lyrics coupled with harsh talk-singing that morphs into barely-comprehensible screams ensures the album and its message hits heavy. The first single Group Anxiety holds true to this, with Stavrakis’ raw vocals, uproarious guitar work and a very tasty bass line ensuring the the song hits powerfully. The second single Burning Up is very much different from the rest of the album, with less emphasis on fast guitar work and garage sound and more emphasis on rhythm. Also, Stavrakis’ voice can clearly be heard, due to the absence of the fuzzy garage style of the rest of the album.

The stand-out track on the album for me is the third track, I Don’t Like You. I feel it blends the best aspects of the album while retaining a familiar sound and tempo to the rest of the record. The simplicity of the song is what makes it stand out, as the lyrics are easily heard, the guitar work is clean and prominent, and the song builds to a rousing crescendo with Stakravis’ vocals.

The greatest drawback of this album is a trap that many artists fall into; sometimes the songs don’t offer enough diversity and sometimes blend into on another. Despite this, Bench Press have a lot of potential, and being signed to Poison City Records, one of Australia’s more well-known labels, ensures that they have access to the tools, and even other bands, such as Smith Street and Luca Brasi to further develop, refine and mature their sound. The loud-quiet-loud style of song has been made famous in Australia over the last few years, with bands like DZ Deathrays, Ceres and Violent Soho having similar song structure and finding success nationwide. While Bench Press certainly have the ability and the lyrical nuance to reach the same level as the aforementioned bands, at the moment it will have to wait.