4.0 out of 5 stars
Garage-punk debut with attitude, September 17, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Cold (Audio CD)
Recorded way back in 1989, the six songs on bait-oven's debut album Cold seem like the source material for many of the punk bands of today with its foretellings of both screamo and pop-punk. Performed by the original line-up, which featured Patrick Bamburak on guitar, Joe Gutsick on drums, and Robert Medvedz on lead vocals, bait-oven's sound on Cold falls somewhere in the realm of The Cure meets The Velvet Underground meets Van Halen.
The opening track "Cold" is built around Joe Gutsick's tribal drumming against guitar and vocals. The fact that there is no bass guitar on the song sets the stage for the rest of Cold not being your typical 1980's rock album. "Bloodbath" is probably the most accessible song on the album. It's an uptempo number set against dark, horror-movie lyrics. "Thousand Languages" is a quiet, brooding journey into folk. "The Ugly Song" is bait-oven's most famous song from the original line-up. With it's witty lyrics and timed breaks that make the song stop and start like a game of musical chairs, "The Ugly Song" is the closest the band ever came to recording a party song. "Twenty-fith" erupts next with a wall of guitars by Patrick Bamburak and thunderous drums. Robert Medvedz's vocal performance on this track is a classic moment in his work with the band. Finally "74 Words" closes the album with an experimental, almost psychedelic trip.
This new CD reissue of Cold is digitally remastered to present the original recordings with the best clarity possible. But despite the technological enhancements, Cold is at its best as the low-tech, straightforward punk rock album that it is. Even after all of these years, the songs still sound fresh and relevant. Cold is an impressive debut from a band that would ultimately travel far and wide across musical genres.
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