Dodgem-X – After The Horse Has Bolted
9/10
Dodgem-X’s After The Horse Has Bolted is a bit of a mini masterpiece. Noisy and energetic, the songs just get stuck in your head before you even realise what has happened!
Opening track Emergency has an individual opening of air raid sirens before the full band kicks in like a punch in the face (which is meant in the best possible way!). I just love how noisy and in-your-face this track is; it’s the perfect choice to start things off with and really gives the listener a great insight into how awesome the rest of the EP is going to be. I particularly loved the pause in the middle, which splits up the song nicely into a slower part before speeding up for an energetic outro.
The Execution Of Genesis begins nicely where Emergency left off. The thing that really stands out about this song is frontman Jody’s vocal technique. It seems to be the norm for singers of punk bands just to mindlessly yell for the duration of songs, but the vocals in Dodgem-X are a little different. Sure, there’s a lot of yelling, but you can really hear the emotion that goes into the performance and it really works well. I’ve been listening to a lot of punk recently, and I’d honestly go so far as to say these are the best vocals I’ve heard in quite a while.
Title track After The Horse Has Bolted is one of the strongest tracks of the album. Upon my first listen, I was instantly tapping my foot along and I could already tell this was going to be one of those songs I listen to over and over again. I just love the guitars in this one and they really help to make the song wildly catchy. I like the quieter parts that lead into the noisier parts and I can only imagine how amazing this song would be to see live.
Operation Dignitas is a bit of a slower track in comparison to the other songs and it contrasts nicely with the sheer energy that previous track After The Horse Has Bolted has. It features a massive chorus that I can already see crowds singing along with!
Interestingly titled My Gun Is Bigger Than Your Gun is the penultimate track. This one was more of a grower – although it didn’t quite hit me on my first listen, after a few more spins it had really gripped me and swiftly became one of my preferred tracks of the EP.
Final track Can You Smell Burning? is, put simply, awesome. It’s like one final desperate push of energy to reach the end of the EP and I absolutely love it. The slower spoken section in the middle works incredibly well and really makes the track resonate before getting back up to tempo for an all-out and massively energetic ending. As the track finishes, you can’t help but want more, and I believe that’s the best sort of ending to have.
If you haven’t checked out this band yet, then what are you waiting for?
