Mum Locked In Castle hail from the seaside town of Scarborough and take their name from a headline found in a local newspaper. However if you think this may be the angry and insightful small town rock band that Britain is crying out for, you’re sadly mistaken.
We do get the angry part. Their second release contains enough jagged riffs and screaming to keep even the most sadistic rock fan happy in terms of sheer release. Apart from these visceral bursts however, there’s very little to hold your interest.
Ben Sullivan’s voice hits all the right notes and undeniably has the scope that this epic Incubus-style rock music requires, unfortunately it lacks any individual character. It has a glass-like smoothness that bleeds its way into all of the songs but makes distinguishing a lyric pretty impossible. Every line is belted out with no notion of subtlety or restraint. As a result, any potential emotion becomes drained out of the music and we’re left craving some variety.
Mum Locked In Castle attempt to provide this variety by having their songs take unexpected turns. It’s obviously a great showcase for the band as musicians (Mars Volta would be proud at some of the complex shifts in texture and style), however the overall feeling is that these sections have been crow-barred in without considering the true direction and momentum of their songs.
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Within forty seconds we can feel as if we’ve listened to three sections from completely disparate songs: this erratic take on song-writing means that every track on Lions Led lacks that big ‘pay-off’ moment. It’s so busy trying to impress and bewilder us that we’re left completely unable to engage and get lost in the music. The pauses between tracks actually become a relief against the barrage of information Mum Locked In Castle throw our way.
This may be a thrilling proposition live: it’s always enjoyable to get your brain completely fried by a band occasionally. On record however, despite the musical pyrotechnics, the band are too busy hiding behind their eccentricities to create anything truly appealing.
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