Weatherstate – Dumbstruck

Weatherstate is what happens when you merge pop-punk fuelled lyrics with garage rock and then chuck in a bit of Weezer.  I’m sure I could come up with a fancy name for that but I think I’ll just stick to describing their latest EP, Dumbstruck, as punk rock.  I’ll also throw in that is a combination that you need in your ears.

In Dumbstruck’s five tracks it makes one simple (and yet incredibly hard to pull off) idea very clear.  These guys can write songs.  Proper songs that wriggle their way into your head and refuse to budge.  And yet despite that, there is a real roughness to this release.  It’s not overproduced in order to hit the biggest market it can but instead sounds like something put together by a band who love the music they are making.

‘Stutter’ kicks things off and despite lyrics like ‘this is a distant cry for help’, it is all joy.  It is dirty and ripples with attitude and yet you can sing along with every word.  ‘Ill’ continues in that vein and it cements that while Weatherstate may have a sound where you can pick out the individual elements, that doesn’t mean it can’t sound fresh and exciting at the same time.

Anyone that listens to That’s Not Metal Podcast will be well aware what sent me in Weatherstates direction and in their review of it, Beez declared that this is the kind of band we should be getting behind.  Commercial sounding enough that they could be huge but raw and powerful enough that they don’t feel like they’re bending over backwards in order to be so.  While I wonder whether they are a bit too raw to make the step to the big time, there is no denying that this EP hints at great things for this particular outfit and they are a band who deserves your support.