On their self-titled debut album, the teenage band
Northern Uproar
comes on like a minature
Clash
, thanks to the production of
Manic Street Preacher
James Dean Bradfield
. It's clear that
learned their
riffs secondhand through
the Manics
and lifted the rest of their sound -- as well as their apolitical, laddish attitude -- from
Oasis
. At their best, the band can tear through appealingly raucous and melodic rock & roll with brutal, youthful energy. At their worst, the group wants to prove that they're more than a rock & roll band, so they head down slow, string-laden detours. At this point in their career,
doesn't have the depth to pull off ballads, but that's fine, given their age.
certainly isn't a consistent album but it is fun, if occasionally mindless, rock & roll. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine