Alt-rock without the pomp and pretence. Perfect.
I’d be quite happy to leave the review at that, but I guess it is only fair to tell you more. So you know how alt-rock was a necessary move, that it injected a bit of life and excitement back into a flagging genre? And you know how it eventually became, as genres generally do given enough time, a bit of a cliche…black clad combos with complicated hair following the same tried and tested templates? Well, The Issue sound like alt-rock had it taken a more adventurous, more creative path. Alt-rock for sure but just more…well, more alt! More individual.
It draws from the more commercial end of grunge, the more palatable parts of modern metal, knows its rock history, has a cool indie accessibility, understands hook and melody and even nods structurally to the complexities of prog. But more than anything, on the strength of Moving On, they know how to pen a great tune and that after all is what it is all about.
