CD Review – Surviving Sharks 2011 CD “Bleed &See”

http://survivingsharksblog.blogspot.com/

Local Adelaide rock band “Surviving Sharks” has released a single “Bleed & See”, and a b-side “Sever”.

I first listened to the songs on Sound Cloud, then watched the Video Clips and a live performance on YouTube, and finally found the artwork and band information on the Music SA website.

Then the CD arrived for review.

That’s the way of it these days. A digital on-line presence is essential to the distribution of content, and the CD is almost incidental.

Musically, I guess I’m a bit of a Methuselah. Perhaps my first experience of owning my own music was finding the single “Bend It” by “Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Tich” (look it up) in my 5KA Show bag in the late 60s’.Nearly 45 years later and I still fondly remember this one-hit-wonder because it was free (show bags were free then), catchy, and single. The release of a single and free distribution of samples has stood the test of time, and still in this digital age it is important, but enough digression and back to “Surviving Sharks” and their release.

This 5 piece band sits on the heavier side of the rock continuum. Built upon a solid rhythm of drums and bass, the driving chords, slashing solos, and heavy keyboard undertone, this band doesn’t quite cross over to Metal, but it is definitely a heavier rock machine. Like the classic “Smoke on the Water”, it is the keyboard that deceptively adds the power and heaviness to the riffs.

Drew Kemp takes the lead vocal work with other band members providing backups. His vocals are strong and appropriate for the songs without being distinctive. The songs “Bleed and See” and “Sever”, whilst strong in their own right, are possibly too similar in structure, tone and key to be released together, however, they are very effective in defining and communicating the “Surviving Sharks” sound.

We shall have to wait for further releases to fully understand the band and its versatility, but in the interim these two songs are good to listen to, and the YouTube Video Clip for “Bleed and See” is also worth watching.