The Sheffield Scenester

Following on from the ‘Stop Eating Animals’ demo released early this year

Failed Theory have been busy working away over at G2 Studios on their debut EP, ‘It’s Been Broken’. We are very pleased that the boys have sent us in a taster track from the forth coming EP to review, The song is called ‘The Gamble’. As yet we aren’t fully aware as to how many tracks will be on the EP once it’s released, but judging from the noises coming across on this track, Failed Theory’s faithful following are going to have a loud end to 2011 with a few large shows already in the pipeline.

As soon as I turned on ‘The Gamble’ for the first time I knew it was going to be good when I heard the fuzzing electrical sound and the masses of feedback coming from the guitar, and then the riff smashes you in the face! Bang! It’s this riff that holds the listener’s interest throughout as it runs through the tune holding the core together. James Perkins also puts down an amazing drum track on this song, already showing he has developed his technique since the release of the band’s demo earlier in the year. When lead singer Jimmy Hallam’s vocals kick in they again marry in with the sound already provided by the guitars and drums. My only disappointment with this track is the rhyming of the chorus, which seems a little repetitive and has been done before ‘You threw it down the drain/You’ve got nothing left to gain/It’ll never be the same/Would you do it all again?’, I just feel the lads could have pushed themselves to be a little more adventurous here.

However, that said, I’d be disappointed if this review was deemed to be negative as I do love the track and everything else about it. As I mentioned above Jimmy pushes out his vocals which seem mature for his years, they remind me of a Dave Ghrol vocal style, edgy, raw and with a lot of talent behind them. The song drops down into a call and answer sequence after the third chorus, echo and distortion over the shouted lyric in the background are reminiscent of early Arctic Monkey’s, and while Failed Theory do list the Monkey’s as an influence (as does every Sheffield band!) I don’t think they try to hide exclusively behind their sound, as some other bands do to their detriment.

The song then drives itself out of this slower part with the beat perfect drumming pulling it up towards the big finish. The final chorus ensues and the song pulls itself up with an emergency stop just shy of the three minute line.

Jimmy, Adam, Tom, Matt & James have come on loads over the summer with a new maturity in their sound and I look forward to hearing (and hopefully reviewing) the finished EP when it’s out. Keep your eyes out for some large festive shows if you missed the band at both The Plug & The Leadmill in September. Then catch them at the 02 academy 4th November, 2nd December Leadmill & 4th Feb @ 02 academy again!

Words by James Whitworth