Sweets – Sweets – Album Review
by Killian Laher

Sweets are something of a supergroup, made up of members of Limerick bands Tooth, Windings, Giveamanakick and Japanese Jesus.  Their self-titled release is a great hard rock album from the word go with the opener Thoughts? which will call to mind great Irish rockers such as Kerbdog, or even Bob Mould in his Sugar days.  Much of the rest of the album, Thoughts? is driven by glorious guitar power chords, and the album continues in this vein with the melodic rocker All Is Moderate.

It’s not overly busy with instrumentation, there’s plenty of space for the staccato, stop-start riffs of last year’s single Ing Ya and the slow-but-heavy Smart Casual.  Prehistoric is a total change of tack, a bright, summery hard-rocking melody, like a metal-infused version of the Cure.  For pure grunge, look no further than Charm Offensive, which has the kind of muscular groove that Nirvana perfected in their less accessible moments.

Later the band really lets loose on the frenetic Dead Ends before finishing off with the sledgehammer, downtuned riffs of Watertown.  It’s a very promising debut, and for the band, it’s a fine collection of songs to build upon.  For those of a more rockist tendency, this has the potential to soundtrack what’s left of the summer.

All Is Moderate