Bottle Of Evil – Bottle Of Evil
Acoustics and electronica from Lanarkshire, Scotland but you might never have guessed from the terrible name. No getting away from it. Bottle Of Evil sounds like hardcore punk or death metal to me. I‘m glad it isn’t, but I can’t help wondering how many people will be put off by such a moniker.
Actually the music is very agreeable. And the name makes a kind of sense to the band themselves because Bottle Of Evil is a collaboration between two solo artists, Derek Bates and Steven McGilvary who perform as Evil Hand and Bottle of Steven respectively. So, yeah, you see it now. It works, at least for those guys. For the rest of the world though……?
Okay, let’s not labour the point. The music itself is rather pretty sounding, blending plaintive singing with processing and some guitar flourishes. For my part the first half dozen tracks showcase the bands best material. Several songs here bring the gentle electronica of the brilliant Epic45 to mind, whilst the hazy vocals of ‘Conversation’ recall Trashcan Sinatras . I would single out the dreamy ‘Seize The Day’ as a particularly strong example of what Bottle of Evil do.
All in all the first half of the record would have made a fine mini-album. The latter songs work less well. It isn’t so much that the ideas run out. But some tracks at the back end give the impression of a nice idea stretched out overlong. That said, the quality of the ‘good’ outweighs the average-ness of the average, if you get my meaning. I’d like to hear more from these guys. They might want to consider re-branding, that’s all.