The Leader

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The Subways add nothing new to rock music, yet their debut album Young for Eternity is an irresistible listen. The album's sound is reminiscent of the early days of grunge rock before it became corporately glossed over; however, one gets the impression that this disc is corporately glossed down. Young for Eternity cashes in on indie rock's raw garage rock feel, and replaces (Jet's) over used classic rock riffs with an edgier punk feel.

Yes, I did say edgy. It is obvious the Subways are concerned with sounding and looking the part of street punk. The result of thrusting punk and indie together is that Young for Eternity has only two levels of sound: loud and louder. There is a constant pull between simple blistering punk and an even more intensely played sense of sleaze rock. The tracks' jarring effect of tossing you from shades of dark to more dark is an exciting experience not found in many other rock acts.

The first single "Rock and Roll Queen" is an example of the Subways delivering sleaze. The track doesn't necessarily evoke anything insightful, yet when Lunn slurs the opening lyrics, "You are the sun, you are the only one...", we can still sympathize with the employment of trite lyrics (and all is forgotten once the drums and bass kick in).

The album fails when it strays from loud and betrays itself with simple acoustic blunderings. These quiet songs reveal a band immature and lost without loud guitars, bass and drums. The softer side may be an avenue yet to be fully explored; however, I would say forget the low burners and concentrate on what is done best in Young for Eternity. The songs that succeed are catchy, fast, and completely ignorant of any feel of innovation. This isn't pomp trying to sound street, but rather street trying to sound pomp (and the chick who plays bass is pretty hot too).

3 of 5

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