It’s a well-known fact that most bands copy other bands. You only have to take a look at the Top 10 Rip-Off Songs on Youtube to see that loads of successful bands have ripped off other bands and in most cases, become more successful than the originals. In this case, Linch seem to have taken a bit too much influence from their idols and created an album built on the sound of bands like Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Nirvana and Radiohead.

Debut single ‘Nameless’ is an ambitious opening to Lugubrious and is easily the best track on the album. The outstanding bass at the beginning of the track opens up a world of possibilities for this band – it sounds flawless, innovative and game-changing. Justin Anderson’s (guitar and vocals) high pitched vocals sound sublime alongside the constantly changing tempo and thrashing guitar and drums. This song is sensational and gets you excited about what’s next to come. ‘Holding On’ clings to the potential seeping from ‘Nameless’ with its wicked bass and absolutely killer riff in the middle of the track. Unfortunately, after this it all seems to go a little bit downhill…

The rest of the songs on the album make Linch look like a band who have just started out and want to imitate all of their favourite bands. ‘Sacrifice’ sounds like Red Hot Chilli Peppers mixed with Matt Bellamy’s vocals. Actually, it sounds a lot like ‘Feeling Good’ by Muse. I’m not saying that drawing inspiration from these bands makes it a bad album, it just makes it very hard to listen to without wanting to listen to the original versions of the song. ‘Failure’ is another example of sounding like something that’s been done before. The song starts off sounding like a thing of beauty, it has some peaceful piano music (this is the first time the keyboard player, Tara Anderson, has actually been heard on the album), echoing drums and is full of some real feeling and emotion. The lyrics, “I just wanna feel like I belong” really make you feel empathy towards the singer and the raw sentiment in Anderson’s vocals truly pull at your heartstrings. Unfortunately, after listening to this track several times, I realised that it sounds exactly like Radiohead’s ‘Creep’.  Also, I hate to be that journalist who compares every fucking band to Nirvana, but seriously, ‘Don’t Lie’ sounds like a light version of Nirvana.

Track nine of the album, ‘Intro: Dream’, adds a little bit of spice. Its long introduction and stoner rock riff makes you feel as if you should grow your hair, never wash it and headbang until you’re sick. It’s a great song. This theme of stoner rock and wailing vocals continues into the final track ‘With You’ which also includes some incredible breakdowns, thus creating a wonderful pinnacle to the album.

Despite the epic opening and equally awesome ending – the real content of this album lets it down. It’s missing the inventive and ground-breaking sound that the debut single ‘Nameless’ pioneered, causing the band to fall into the ‘sounds-like-so-and-so-band’ bracket. If the band encompass their unorthodox sound you hear at the beginning and continue it across the album, then there’d be no stopping Linch becoming one of the best bands out there. But at the moment, they’re just mediocre.