Artist: Virgin Creep
Album: Awakening
Label: Independent
Release Date: August 23, 2012
When it comes to hard rock, I find that there are two things worth noting: first – it’s got a very simple core – one maybe two guitars loud over typically a 4/4 or a 6/8 rhythm at mid tempos, go through verse-chorus-verse-chorus-lead (or bridge) – chorus and that’s your lot. Second it’s not got a whole lot of room for variation … all the way from chugga chugga riff riff to a full blown power chord guitar wall. And while the above may be an oversimplification, you have to admit that it takes just a little nudge in any other direction before we get grunge, alternative or the modern take on punk. I guess that’s one reason why it’s so difficult to think of good proper hard rock bands in recent times. But you know what –they’re out there.
When I came across this EP, I really wanted Virgin Creep to be among those bands. It would seem that I’m still left a bit wanting. Don’t get me wrong – their music isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. But that’s exactly what it lacks – imagination. You know why there are so few good hard rock bands out there? It’s just a gifted, talented few – Raine Maida at Our Lady Peace for example, or even Chris Cornell and Tom Morello at Audioslave – to really find the magic that lies hidden in that supposedly simple core. Being a good hard rock band that’s respected today means being as good as Alter Bridge or Dead Sara or Our Lady Peace or the Foo Fighters or A Perfect Circle… and it turns out – it’s not easy – and everyone has their mis-steps.
So it is that Awakening goes through the motions – five songs, two ballads (with heavy choruses), one acoustic number and an opener that sounds like Nickelback’s Burn It To The Ground. It’s a decently fun ride through the twenty-odd minute run time but it isn’t anything more. The song structures exactly follow formula and there aren’t really any surprises. The members are a capable lot and hold everything together quite well… but there’s nothing that would really grab your attention and make you take notice: it’s all been done before and been done better.
But even before they take on the global hard rock giants, Virgin Creep have to deal with something a bit closer to home – the Indian rock scene. To be a band in India today and stand out among the crowd is not as easy as it once was: eight years ago, play a bunch of Maiden or Guns N Roses covers really well, throw in a couple of originals and suddenly you’re hot stuff. Today, less than a decade later, you have bands like Avial, Thermal and a Quarter, Parvaaz, Skyrabbit, Sulk Station, The Bicycle Days – all pushing the musical boundaries so far so fast that it isn’t enough to be a template rock band to make a mark… So the long and short of it… there’s nothing wrong with the album per se: you can get it and give it a listen a couple of times. But I don’t think there’s much to draw you back into giving this repeated listens. If you ask me, it’s really simple – it’s a decent hard rock album that released eight years too late.
