A home cooked bluesy hard rock with some moderate punk influences is what would probably best describe SOS on this release. Combining heady straight ahead hard rock in the vein of doubleDrive or perhaps some Godsmack with less crunch the band jumps through Ramone's like punk of old into mellower drowsy metal/rock songs. Vocals range through a modest scale, no screaming, no real aggression just a solid tone almost dancing over the bassy balls out hard rock that this release contains. Guitars keep a somewhat static tone with little downtuning suggesting a punk ideal letting the other instruments take precedent in its place. Although some different ideas are tried throughout the songs, a very unchanging tone seems to envelope the release minus a few tracks where the band cuts loose or slows it down to a hypnotizing pitch. Bass comes heavy in the mix with a bit of variation, some slapping, rapid plodding rhythms and the rest of the more basic bass elements are put to play. Perhaps not the most earth shattering basswork ever recorded but its still solid and does work together nicely with the music. Drums have a very warm tight tuning that almost reverbs too much drowning out the other instruments in the mix although on the other hand it does syncopate nicely with the bass. Good usage of the kit is used with consistent cymbal and highhat work as well as some rim hits and rolls and what even sounds to be a cowbell at one point. Standout track on this album would have to be "Gravel" which features some entrancingly picked guitar and well placed vocal and song structure dynamics all over a medium tempo'd track that flows nicely. Some things that really stand out negatively against this release would be the almost annoying presence the drums take in the mix, they really do seem to drown out things with the guitar being mixed the lowest, although not necessarily a bad thing the slightly muffled tuning almost makes ones head pound after prolonged listening. The bass and drum oriented nature of the music is also something that somewhat detracts from the music as both are mixed in so loudly it starts to take a dimension away from the overall sound. SOS isn't a band for everyone, especially the fickle teenage music buying public craving the next big thing, instead they're for a more refined perhaps older music listener who appreciates to slow it down and take in punk/hard rock elements that best accompany going to a bar drinking beer and shooting pool.
(3.5 / 5)