| CD REVIEW All I Know |
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Band : All I Know In their biography, this Kortrijk based Belgian band tells a plausible story of how its members went rummaging through their parents’ record collection to find a direction in the music they wanted to start playing. You see, up to that point (at least according to one of the alternate info sources I consulted) the band, which then consisted of lead singer/ guitarist Ward “Nikki” Dufraimont, guitarist/ backing singer Michaël “Jessy” Neyt, bassist Amély Mondy, and a drummer whose name I was unable to find…had been playing some kind of Punk Rock (no specifications as to whether it was of the Poppy or more aggressive variety), and been doin’ that since the band’s conception in 2005. Anyway…so the guys eventually stumble onto albums by the likes of Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, and Poison, and go on in the biography to put those in a same category as ‘80s band that “…were part of the Hard Rock wave coming from the States…”! The worst thing is, some of the music journalists this 10-track promo album was sent to at the beginning of the year simply took that info at face value and used it in their review, without checking its veracity. Am I the only one whom it bothers that Leppard are actually Brits, were even part of the very first NWoBHM?! Overlooking this “small” mistake, the main fact we’ll filter from the above, is that the remaining 3 members were looking for a new direction…and considering the frontman used to play guitar with Kortrijk Metalcore monsters Liar, I would say Ward has gone through a serious musical maturation. Because you see, even if that particular style of Hard Rock never made it véry big over in Europe, the fact cannot be denied that the slightly more “complex” (let’s not exagerate) music was most appreciated among slightly more intelligent-looking youngsters! It was, so-to-say, Hard Rock for the precauciously mature youth. The band, or rather Michaël Neyt, recorded their album at Brussel’s Jet Studio during Summer 2008, where it was then mixed and mastered by Indie producer/ guru Staf Verbeeck, whom you might remember from having done work with the likes of Live, Arid, Hooverphonic, and Das Pop. For the drum duties, the existing trio invited their friend Karel De Backer (of Gabriel Rios and Flip Kowlier repute). Guest spots were retained for David Poltrock (of Savalas, Tom Helsen) whom had written the piano arrangement for the semi-ballad “Asphyxia”, and Dave Martijn (of Goose) and Lennart Bossu (formerly of Janez Detd.) contributed additional guitars. Conclusions? AIK has succeeded in bringing a nice album in said category…although their Punk Rock ancestry doés come through in a couple of the songs. Where they avoid that “modern touch”, the remeniscences to Bon Jovi come through clearly enough. In the aforementioned semi-ballad “Asphyxia”, one cannot avoid hearing echoes of REO Speedwagon as well, and it’s my guess that the band simply forgot to mention that band as one of those they found albums by in their parents’ collections (I mean, it stands to reason that this band would be featured in that list, since it indeed enjoyed its highest popularity during the early ‘80s). The one thing that sets the band slightly apart, is the somewhat frail voice of their frontman…something which the band solves quite efficiently by giving him the perfect vocal backing (which in turn again brings a further remeniscence to the ‘80s bands). AIK ends their album with an acoustic ballad, a tactic which was rather standard with the ‘80s bands of that particular scene. End conclusion? Not bad for a first try, and with this material at least a year old now, I’m wondering what evolution the band may have gone through, if any. Would be interesting enough to find AIK resolutely setting aside their Punk past in favour for a more unified Hard Rock sound! Well, we’re not up to that yet, but the reader may be interested in finding out about this band’s available material first, eh? To that end, just mosey on over to myspace.com/alliknow, where the band has posted some 4 tracks off this promo album. Point of interest : after the recordings of this promo full-length, the band enlisted the services of drummer Dries Van Dyck…formerly of Convict, and therefore yet another member of the Metalcore community crossing over… 83/100 Tony. |