Room 94's Second Album Delivers Multiple Highs & Lows

Opening with a track that will slap you round the face, grab you by the balls and make sure you’re listening, Room 94 deliver a pretty impressive wake up call.

I’d heard so many great things about Kieran, Dean, Sean and Kit, (aka the Room 94 lads) that I was looking forward to spending some time with their new self-titled release.  Although I’m very new to their music their loyal and passionate fan-base bestow incredibly high standards on the boys from Hertfordshire and so I was hoping for big things from the album.

Opening with “So What” the album really does hold all the promise that you’d expect from a band that received so much acclaim for their debut album 'No Strings Attached'.  It’s an explosive guitar thrashing, drums bashing track which grabs your attention and sets a further level of expectation for the album.

However the rest of the album seems to flow like a roller-coaster with many highs and lows.  Tracks like “X’s”, “Keep Your Hands Off My Chick” and “Gimme The Night” show the bands experimental side but don’t further the phenomenal opener.  The press release we received states ‘there really isn’t anyone else out there right now like Room 94.  That’s a shame in many ways – more bands should have the balls to mix it up in such a carefree manner.’ and in my opinion this actually seems to be the bands downfall.

They cite their influences as Fall Out Boy, Ed Sheeran, Drake, Justin Timberlake & Blink 182 among others and many of these artists styles are evident through the tracks.  The free-styling in “X’s” is hugely similar to that of Sheeran’s but coupled with the Fall Out Boy esq chorus it all seems a little too mixed up and carefree.

It’s a really fine line as when they focus on one style, they nail it… it’s actually pretty infuriating.  Another highlight that’s clearly designed to get the party started is the appropriately titled “Party Anthem”.  Good fun Pop Rock that could be used in the party scene in any other number of feel good films.  It’s simply a great fun track!  Much like “Poison”, again it follows the same structure, one style, rock, and it delivers really well.  Simple.

When I chose to review the album I wasn’t entirely sure I was their target audience but I've heard such great things.  I’m not the biggest Fall Out Boy fan, however I do like thrashing guitars and heavy drums (and Ed Sheeran to a certain extent) so I thought this would be my kind of thing.

However, I found myself slightly confused by all the 'mixing it up' and then guessed that the reason more bands keep to one style is because it doesn’t always work.  But don’t take my word as gospel, try it for yourself, there are some stand out tracks that will get you jumping around.

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click here. Words by Mark Jennings

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