Album Review: Druids – Druids (Self-Released)

Druids are a hard-rock/glam UK band & their debut album is out now.

The atmospheric rock stylings of Druids self-titled debut album certainly has a unique stance. It’s opening song Mission has a catchy beat but the heavy use of effects does overshadow what is some nice sounding riffs. That’s not the biggest problem though.

The vocals are so odd sounding & it takes a few songs to really get comfortable with the softly sung, other-worldly style. It’s not until the swagger of Reflections that Druids really gets going. A song that has a real hip-shaking effect to it & is clearly inspired by 80’s disco music. It’s a pretty solid track & even the vocals sit really well with the sexy vibe it gives off.

If you’re looking for a heavy metal album, then look elsewhere. At times Druids even struggles to keep its foot within the rock genre. When it does hit harder it’s often the best music on the entire album. Time has a real Bowie feel about it, the breathy vocals & catchy choruses.

Annoyingly though Druids keep insisting on putting these expansive sounding effects throughout their songs & they often overshadow everything else. Pulling the Trigger is one such song that suffers because it’s so loud when it’s dropped.

Things start to go wrong at the latter half of the album. Honey Pie has a nice bass hook but is lazy, lyrically while Jog On is down-right irritating with its ‘jog on, boy’ chorus beat. One you’ll be skipping.

The longest track on the album is something of a ballad, When You’re in Love. A simple bass line with a smattering of drums pushes the vocals to the front. The slow tempo fits it nicely but it tries to ruin it with a horrible sounding guitar squeal & repetitive lyrics.

This unusual piece of music finishes on a lovely high though. Fantasy adds a piano to the mix & stops messing so heavily around with the sound settling for an uplifting song. It’s fascinating to see just how different a song like this is compared to the very start. Even the vocals sound far better, cleaner with less digitisation.

It’s a good ending to an album that is far too hit & miss to be enjoyable. When it gets it right, it’s pretty flawless at mixing electronica, disco & rock. However when it gets it wrong it’s near unlistenable & for being only 9 tracks long it gets it wrong too many times.

Druids Full Track Listing:

1. Mission
2. Stuart Slater
3. Reflections
4. Time
5. Pulling the Trigger
6. Honey Pie
7. Jog On
8. When You’re in Love
9. Fantasy

You can pick up Druids music over on Bandcamp here. You can find out more about the band over on Facebook, Google+, Soundcloud & YouTube.