Stereophonics — Oochya! — Album Review
Rock
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Stereophonics are the kind of band that I knew of while growing up, but also one whose recent music I’ve been following to an extent. I of course know all of the classic tunes that got the Welsh rock group to the status that they are at today. However, much of the material they had released past that, has displayed the same level of quality.
Some good examples to pick out from, past the year of 2010 for instance, would be their 2015’s Keep the Village Alive, and 2017’s Scream Above the Sounds. Both of the aforementioned albums stuck quite well to the “if it ain’t broke, dont fix it” mantra in terms of their musical style. However, there were also enough new elements thrown into each of them to keep them relatively fresh.
Where my appreciation towards Stereophonics and where they stand in the modern musical era, did admittedly get shaken up with the release of their 2019 album Kind; a far less memorable project in my mind, where I also felt a slight dip in the bands quality overall.
But the question on everyone’s lips in the year of 2022, is exactly how the band’s brand new album Oochya! would stack up amongst the rest, and what would it do differently?
Oochya! is the twelfth studio album from Stereophonics, and was teased in the later half of last year, starting with their first teaser track “Hanging On Your Hinges”. By the sounds of this track, I initially set myself up with the expectation that this album could be a far more energetic and gritty Stereophonics album to the more sentimental soaring sounds that fans are used to.
But upon listening to the full album upon its release, Oochya! definitely still carries a very substantial amount of those aforementioned soaring sounds, making this record sound a lot more similar to previous works. I also felt a similar way to the albums second teaser track “Do Ya Feel My Love?”; a far more familiar-sounding tune, and a more accurate stylistic telling of what the overall album would ultimately sound like.
And of-course, Oochya! is another enjoyable project from the group; it is certainly a vast improvement upon 2019’s Kind. However, I feel that Stereophonics are at a stage where their discography is now so vast, that many of this album’s tracks would’ve had to have been way more unique to stand a chance against previously released tunes.
While much of this album’s weight is successfully carried by the better tracks the project has, they are unfortunately outnumbered by the ones that came off as extremely generic soft-rock numbers. To sum it up, out of the 15 total tracks that Oochya! has, I ended up only keeping five.
While I gave Oochya! credit for at least being an improvement upon their previous album, I would much rather take a listen of Scream Above the Sounds, or Keep the Village Alive over this project anyday.
Favourite Tracks: Hanging On Your Hinges | When You See It | Running Round My Brain
Least Favourite Tracks: You’re My Soul | Made A Mess Of Me
Ignition Records
