From the heart of the great northwest, Minneapolis band Late Night Fights look to break onto the music scene with their release of Jousthouse. The band drew influences from Grunge, Alternative and Post-Hardcore to create a unique sound of their own, but there’s a problem.
Now let’s establish some things really quick. First, I grew up in the generation that defined the term grunge, Alice in Chains (the Layne era) is probably one of the best Grunge era bands period (Nirvana fans just closed this review), but let’s not get off track here, since I grew up listening to these icons, I am very particular about my grunge. Second, this album is not grunge, it is more alternative than anything else; I can hear the grunge influences but they are slightly there.
Late Night Fights have a Puddle of Mudd sound to them, especially in the vocals. Now don’t get me wrong, the album was good especially for a newer band still trying to establish themselves. I’ve heard much worse from bands that have been in the industry for years. The lyrical content of the songs stuck out the most for me; their songs are catchy, meaningful and at times a bit deep, which is something that helped the band when I listened to the album. At times the band has a Foo Fighters sound to their delivery, which is also a good thing.
I think the trio is on the right track with finding themselves in this industry. I think the biggest thing is that Late Night Fights need to find their style and stick to it. I feel like the album bounced around a bit too much for my taste, it sounded like I was listening to three different bands at times. I also think that this is a great effort from Late Night Fights and I would be interested in seeing what the future holds for them. They do have musical talent and I think that they are on the right path in creating something unique with different sound that modern listeners haven’t heard yet. You can decide for yourself when Jousthouse is released on December 11th, 2016.
