Zico Chain - 'Food' (Hassle) Released 15/10/07

Too often it’s easy to write off a band before they’ve given their goods. No better recent case in point than Zico Chain, who’s loose, growling alt-rock has been passed off as two-dimensional grunge revivalism. True, there are similarities between this first release from Zico Chain and American bands of the early 90s that made up the scene broadly known as ‘grunge’. But in the wake of an equally commercial scene of ultra-radio friendly, piss-weak guitar bands, why is grunge still considered a dirty word?

For a start, turning up the dirt on your music has always been a sign to me of an artist’s passion and belief in the songs they’re performing. When it’s that much louder it’s gotta be that much more convincing. And across ‘Food’s eleven hard rock, 3 chord rock outs never once leaves you with the feeling that this band aren’t genuine. So when the play ‘No Hoper Boy’ you feel the put-downs and low expectations laden on this band.

Maybe it’s unfortunate that this style brings Zico Chain’s material will into unfavourable comparison of a certain band fronted by a Mr Cobain. ‘Your Favourite Client’ is the worst offender in this. But this is far from the full story. As with the standout anthem ‘Where Would You Rather Be’, there’s as much credit to Queens of the Stone Age and Marilyn Manson to this band. ‘Pretty Pictures’ in turn carves out its own unique mark in the hard rock genre, while proof of variety is completed by the scuzzy, almost pop-rock ‘All Eyes On Me’.

So is it bad to be ‘grunge’? When it sounds this good then names become irrelevant. It’s a raucous feast of brutal rock. No more the covering of previous band’s territory than Oasis are a pastiche of The Beatles, ‘Food’ is not a rip off but the next stage and a brilliant slice of high quality UK alt-rock.