Mon Frere – Blood, Sweat & Swords

Mon Frere
Blood, Sweat and Swords

Never let an album cover pre-influence your opinion of a band. These words should be enscribed on a stone tablet and hung over every prospective music reviewers desk. I’m often guilty of this sin, and the Mon Frere album was no exception. I mean just look at the cover. Swords with skulls through them… hmm, can you say either supergoth or blast-plaster metal?

Indeed. The band is nothing like that and they’ve even provided a handy genre categorization for me which is Powerhouse Electro Dance Rock. Oh, another rule for the stone tablet mentioned above: Never let the first song of an album influence your overall perception of the band. I listened to the first track (“Y.M.M.W.D.S.B”) and was all, like, Mates of State! But after that first song, they start to live more up to their genre.

I will give Nouela some props in that she has some crazy amazing pipes. She belts that stuff out. However, the music tends more toward synthyish new wave and electro-rock like No Doubt. (Occasionally, I hear something that reminds me of Rainer Maria, but it’s mostly a fleeting hint.) Her voice fits the music style superbly and the songs are fairly catchy, but just isn’t my cup of tea. Right now, anyway.

There is a bit of a campy or even loungey aspect to some of their tracks. The guitar is often nicely choppy and chunky, like on “Let It Bleed”, “Big Shot” or “Drain”. For “Bulliton” can you say Barracuda? Hehe. They even slow it down a bit on songs like “Leaving Town” which sort of reminds me of a Devics song?

Bratty and brash, I think most of these tracks would fit pretty well next to your synth-pop stuff. Just don’t let your mom see the cover.

Band Members:

Kyle Swisher – Guitar
Nouela Johnston – Vocals, Keys
Dustin McGhie – Drums

Albums on Itunes:

Blood Sweat and Swords
Real Vampires EP

Available Tracks:

Drain

by Tyranosaur