| Listening to Fat’s self-titled debut has had me humming the lyrics to the Violent Femmes’ song of the same name: "I hope you got fat/'Cause if you got really fat/You just might want to see me come back." And that is just how most headlining bands will probably feel if Fat somehow manage to get themselves on the bill as the opening act. After listening to Fat you can’t wait for something else. Something different. Something melodic. Something less like Rage Against the Machine meets 311 and Sugar Ray. Something that has more than one tune on a 12 track album. What can I say? When I heard that Fat left the UK for American shores because nobody over there appreciated them, I was not surprised. If I knew they hailed from my hometown, I’d drive them away too. All this is rather harsh. But frankly, this musical style is old, tired, boring and overdone. It’s been old, tired and overdone since about 5 minutes after Rage Against the Machine released their first single. And since then, it has received way too much airplay. So what do we have, a band condoning loud guitars, too much bass, and some silly British boy trying to rap and ending up sounding like a gang of thugs throwing a drunken bum up against an empty railroad car. Basically, it’s unappealing. Of course, I’m sure Fat will be a huge success. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. | |