THE BANGKOK FIVE – We Love What Kills Us

The Bangkok Five, being a somewhat obscure band, have come up with their second album to date. Their debut album Who’s Gonna Take Us Alive came out in 2006. From the two titles, it appears that this band has a rebellion and anger fetish. The new album only has five songs – not really an album by most standards … more like an EP.

The band is made up of Frost (vocals), Sweeney (lead guitar), Coatez (bass), Blanco (drums), and Bobby S. (guitar). The band originated in Los Angeles back in 2004, and had several members come and go before this ensemble was the finished product. Supposedly this album is about Los Angeles and what goes on there. It is a compilation of the trials and tribulations the five band members went through in their daily lives growing up in a pretty bad place, but put to music through words. The feelings from all of this comes to life when he performs, in a way that “these songs have a power that destroys me when I perform them, I physically hurt myself onstage,” states Frost.

After repeated listens, the one song that stands above the rest is clearly the title track “We Love What Kills Us.” After that is a personal choice or opinionated thing. The second track, “This One’s For The Haters” isn’t that bad, but after that the song appeal starts to take a spiral downward. The third track, “Straight Fell Off” seems to take forever to develop with its somewhat boring intro. After that it’s listenable, but not something that makes you take notice. Next comes “Party Machine,” and tries desperately to take off with a little bass groove thing going on, but in the end another letdown only because more is expected than what one actually hears. The closing tune is “Outline (Of Us)” which is good because this one almost puts you to sleep. The song is better without the vocals, actually, and when the music takes on an eerie sound it isn’t that bad. Frost sounds like he either just woke up or is ready to go to sleep. It is a shame because for the most part he has a fairly decent voice on the other tracks. As for the rest of the band and their musical aptitude, they seem competent enough in their playing.

Unfortunately, the album is way too short, coming in at 20:41 minutes and will probably not be a hit with Metalheads, Hard Rock fans, or even plain Rock/Classic Rock fans, to be honest. Where The Bangkok Five will probably excel and have their largest fan base will be with teenage girls and young women. Frost has the kind of voice that could catch the attention of that market segment.

Overall, this album might do better if there were a greater variety of songs to get a better reference point from, but with five tracks it’s a bit tough. This isn’t one of those releases that will have the masses running for the store or having Web servers crashing from an overabundance of requests. Perhaps in due time and with a few more albums (hopefully longer in length) under their belt, this band might start to get more attention from listeners of different genres. Until then, this band will remain a bit obscure.