++GIG REVIEW++
Steven Belfrage catches up with our former guest editors in Oxford, where their horror movie history lesson is going down a treat...
On record, Iliketrains criminally water down their material, opting more for a vocal-led line of attack which sterilises their dramatic, multi-layered instrument ensemble.
This is a damn shame and let’s just hope they’ve sacked their producer. Live, I was expecting an entirely different kettle of fish and thankfully within seconds of opener ‘Twenty Five Sins’, this is confirmed.
"Iliketrains opt for slower, film score-like fanfares over new wave energy..."
Percussion led goth is the agenda and we are the victims. Although reminiscent in tone to the sullen hallows of Interpol and Editors, Iliketrains opt for slower, film score-like fanfares over new wave energy.
This is all quite fitting for a band who reference influential historical figures and events on each track; ‘We All Fall Down’ is about the 17th Century plague epidemic, ‘I Am Murdered’ enlightens us to the only British Prime Minister to get assassinated in 1812, while the Salem Witch Trials is the inspiration for energetic new single ‘We Go Hunting’.
Fronting the group is a chap called Dave who looks like he hasn’t slept in days and spends most of the set intensely staring out members of the audience one by one.
Yes, Iliketrains feel like a history lesson tutored by a serial killer. With outstanding tracks like the frantic encore ‘Terra Nova’ along with the trumpet-led ring-outs that completes almost each song, they touch brilliance in enough areas to hold their own.
++ Steven Belfrage ++
Artrocker rating: 3
The newest sounds as heard in the Artrocker Office and our Resonance FM podcast.
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