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Album Details

• Artist: Ikara Colt
• Album: Modern Apprentice
• Label: Fantastic Plastic
• Year of Release: 2004
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: challey on 2004-10-02

It seems like in the last couple years, the world has had the big rock 'n' roll revival that they've been waiting for since the early 80's. And while it's a good thing that the music is reaching the mainstream once again, it's really just getting a little tiresome by now. A lot of these bands, such as Jet, are just (blatantly) ripping off songs of the past ("Lust for Life"), so the new movement of rock really doesn't have the force or longevity of the 60's and 70's culture.

Ikara Colt, who hail from the UK, released their first album Chat and Business in 2002. Critics seemed to like it, and the band developed a small fanbase during this time, although they still aren't really a mainstream group. In many ways, they've just remade their debut album with Modern Apprentice, although there's one major difference: it's faster, louder, and more violent and aggressive.

The opening track, "Wanna Be That Way," kicks off with the bass pounding dents into your brain while guitar feedback drones above it, leading up to the predictable snare drum smack that signals the start of the blazingly fast opening riff. By the time lead singer Paul Resende comes with the vocals, you could swear that you've heard the song a thousand times before.

That's really Modern Apprentice's only fault; none of it sounds new. Whether it's the dance-punk of "Modern Feeling" or the straight-up fuzzy rock 'n' roll of "I'm With Stupid," it all recalls the tunes of too many bands that have come before it. And herein lies another problem with this new rock 'n' roll revival - it's hard to separate the bands who truly breathe and feel the music from those who are just jumping on the bandwagon to try to hit it big and make a couple dollars. While Ikara Colt definitely lets the listeners know who their influences are, the band doesn't really have enough enthusiasm to belong to the former category.

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