You may or may not have heard of Unwritten Law. Formed in 1990, the rock band have since released 7 studio albums and have smashed out hit songs such as ‘Seein’ Red’ and ‘Save Me (Wake Me Up Call)’. The quartet are now looking to attract a new era of fans as they are set to release ‘Acoustic’, a mashup of polished, re-recorded tracks and also two brand new songs.
‘Celebration’ kicks off the record and the electric rhythmic background reminiscent of ‘Meteora’ era Linkin Park. It’s an odd switch into the next track ‘Nevermind’ as we are introduced with bouncy, staccato acoustic guitar strums. A cover of MSTRKRFT and John Legend’s ‘Heartbreaker’ comes into play and mixes in a strange traditional Indian middle eight to the electric mix. Weirdly, it works.
‘Save Me’ is an interesting mix of an upbeat chord progression and dark, personal lyrics and it’s a standout for its originality. ‘Cailin’ is a shamelessly soppy but poignant song which shows off Scott Russo’s lyrical abilities. Rounding the record off, a new track ‘Belongs To You’, returns to the electric rhythms of previous songs and while it unfortunately does not feel like a righteous closure for the album, it’s still a consistent and eclectic track.
It’s not a very flowing record as the songs just don’t follow into one another, but this does display the band’s ability to experiment with their sound, which is commendable. While it’s probably a more honest bet to listen to the original versions of these tracks for comparison, that’s not to say that if you’re a fan of bands such as Blink-182 you shouldn’t give this eclectic mish-mash of a remaster a chance.
3/5
‘Acoustic’ by Unwritten Law is released on April 1st on Cyber Tracks.
Unwritten Law links: Facebook|Twitter
Words by Phoebe Messenger (@kangaezu_ni)
