I recently heard the debut EP by this LA four piece and with first impressions proving strong, felt obliged to stop around and see what these lads have had milling on their factory line since then. And this is the result, the Bill Metoyer Produced, debut entitled 'Stranded'.

 

Lead off single, 'Put Away Wet' opens their debut full lengther with a punky fast rocker and one of those rough and ready choruses that has you rushing against the stage barrier. Thrash influences take over with 'Toxic Waste' , an ideally titled number for addressing the genre. As if to sandwich it in between two heavier slices 'Nothing to Lose' resumes the in yer face theme of the opener, ripping and raging in done the job and out again, and then slows slightly down in turn for 'Inside Out'. One of my favourites with a not insignificantly Nirvana effect, especially on the vocal side, this pop-rocker changes tempo in a timely circle with a soaring chorus part.

 

'Everything Sux' speeds in, screams and then goes straight away, one mostly made for the stage than disc. 'Come To Hand' is a stuttery grunge-meets garage rock number with a Stone Temple Pilots likeness and and one of the huge standout numbers of all eight. The title cut cruises in a steady hard rock fashion with a fierce chorus segment that sounds like a farmer finding his Land Rover's wheels stuck in the mud before things wind to an end with 'Monster', a monstrous triple beat rhythm enshrined in total old school Metaldom and massive use of backing vocals straight through verse into chorus.

 

As hopes for this album go, they are definitely far from dashed, despite a pinch of ploddy moments. The sounds that carry across Void Vator's debut album are significantly familiar, but having savoured the way it is done, such likenesses go totally subject to pardon.

 

These lads slide their own gel into the gaps between and the resulting building stands perfectly up for it.