Written by Nathan Douthwaite
In 2012 Slaves released their first material on an extra-long EP titled “Sugar Coated Bitter Truth”.
However no one seemed to pick up on the duo from Kent until the release of the single “Hey” giving an impressive performance on The Jools Holland Show.
Popularity started to increase for the boys from there. Releasing tracks like “The Hunter” & “Feed the Mantaray”.
They then released “Cheer Up London” which had more pop elements to it than what was previously heard by the band.
“Live Like an Animal” was released just weeks before the expected release date of new album “Are You Satisfied?”
So what about the album itself? Was it worth the wait? Did it live up to the hype surrounding its release?
Here is my verdict.
Opening with fan favourite “The Hunter” and leading straight into the more pop punk track “Cheer Up London” it satisfies the listener immediately by hearing these likeable tracks.
It’s good to see a mix of previously unheard tracks and ones that were now familiar with the Slaves’ fan base.
Tracks like “Sockets” and “She Wants Me Now” are both fast paced punk soaked tracks. Both tracks have the sing along element that pretty much all Slaves tracks have. “Sockets” especially amplifies this element, fast paced drums accompanied by heavy quickly played chords create an easy to dance to tracks.
“Despair and Traffic” is an interesting track, both Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent sing splitting sentences between one another which bursts into a “This is life” chorus sang in unison.
The guitars in the verse also help to build towards the iconic chorus. The riff breaks out into a small guitar lick which is pleasing to the ears.
“Do Something” has that stereotypical Slaves sound, we hear the return of Isaac Holman’s “The Hunter” style lyrics. What’s good about this song is the groove. It has that bop you head feel to it. The genre of the track could easily fall into the Grime category.
Tonally the album is consistent, the fuzzy, distorted guitars power through every track. The vocals are consistent too. The stand outs are like on tracks like “Despair and Traffic” and “Wow! 7am” when we can hear Holman and Vincent sing together it adds that special something.
That isn’t to say that the album doesn’t have diversity. In fact through songs like title track “Are You Satisfied?” “Ninety Nine” and “Sugar Coated Bitter Truth” the album show great diversity.
“Ninety Nine” has lyrics that spin your head round and round with an electronic drum beat to match. Even the riff is different to what is stereotypical to Slaves. It moves from punk to a more rock and roll feel.
“Are You Satisfied?” is probably the slowest track on the album. It’s acoustic guitar and piano combination is like a breath of fresh air on the already punk covered album. The nice “ah, ah’s” from Laurie Vincent give a softer side to the heavy Slaves.
“Sugar Coated Bitter Truth” has a slow picking guitar that isn’t familiar with the Slaves stereotypical sound. Tonally diverse and heavy in political lyrics “Sugar Coated Bitter Truth” is one of the highlights of this well created album.
Big riffs, tight drums beats and powerful vocals, creates this long anticipated album.