BOHICA – No Apologies

This is the debut from this British bunch, and the band’s Hardcore/Alternative Metal style is not bad at all. Bohica has come up with some entertaining, although not very original, music, and they sound tight with decent production.

The No Apologies album is solid with no major letdowns, but unfortunately there are no real hits here either. The album could use a major blockbuster, and the boys do definitely have the potential to come up with just that.

Some tracks do stand out as highlights – “Fragments” has some cool riffing going on, as does “Flinch,” which also includes acoustic guitars tastefully presented. This track has one of the strongest choruses on the album. “Paracetamol” has a good groove (but guys, in a world where people sang about heroine in the 70’s and Priest’s “Painkiller” has celebrated its 10th anniversary, who would ever use that title?), and “Doorway” is a melody-based and very cool number. The ballad “I Move On” sounds quite American, and the emotional vocals makes this a good closing track.

These guys are quite competent musicians – and especially singer James Burns and drummer Nathaniel Renouf stand out. Burns has quite a distinct voice with lots of power in it – for example, listen to “Doorway” – and he “sings” more than many others in this genre. This gives the music a more melodic touch, which is a good thing indeed (as well as refreshing) in a genre that often indulges into overly rhythmic staccato-riff mish-mash. Still, the music has some cool grooves, courtesy of drummer Renouf. The rest of the line-up includes guitarists Eng Wei Chua (a very bad word game on a certain Swedish guitar God?) and Steve Inglis, and bassist Christian Inglis.

There are no real belly flops on the album, but the guys need to pay more attention to detail and have to make more recognizable tunes. It’s tempting to say that this album came out 5 years too late, as the sound is very 90’s, but still one can’t help to wish the boys good luck, and they indeed have made a debut that should make them proud.