Mozes and the Firstborn – Dadcore
Mozes and the Firstborn – Dadcore (Burger Records)
Review by Paul Lockett.
Just as I was wondering if grunge music had gone into hibernation, it turns out that just across the water in the Netherlands, it’s actually alive and well. Dadcore is in fact Mozes and the Firstborn‘s third album, following 2016’s Great Pile of Nothing. It’s clear that there’s more to this band than first thought – the album is littered with intermissions – seven small tracks which collectively spell out the name of the album. Nice idea.
Tracks such as ‘Baldy’ clearly reveal that this band is looking to spread its wings far greater than simply carrying a grunge or garage rock tag. ‘Baldy’ has a likeable & loose feel which transports us far away from the more American-sounding tracks which kick off the album. Likewise, ‘Sad Supermarket Song’ has more depth than its predecessor songs on the album. There are no boundaries being broken here – but it’s a lot of fun nonetheless.
Several songs cross over into the slacker rock/pop punk of Green Day (‘Hello’, ‘We’re All Saints’) whilst others (‘Blow Up’, ‘Scotch Tape’) typically have more of a retro feel. Mozes and the Firstborn are clearly happy to try their hand at anything song-wise providing it requires guitars. ‘Scotch Tape’ – which segues into a track entitled ‘Stick With Me’ – provides one of the album’s standout tracks. Arguably more experimental than other tracks, it has a great melody & chorus. During the verses, the guitars are atonal and completely out of sync with the rest of the song – and they sound all the better for it.
‘Fly Out II’, which closes the album, is another impressive highlight. Despite being a slower tempo than the majority of the album, it allows the band to collectively showcase their individual skills – a great melody, lots of space for instrumentation and a nice rhythmic feel. It reminds me slightly of American bands such as Dumptruck and possibly REM. I have no idea why its appearance comes right at the end of the album, but who knows?
Overall, Dadcore provides an interesting bunch of tracks which proves that there’s some great music coming out of the Netherlands right now.
Dadcore is out now on LP, CD & cassette.