FIVE ((O)) - There Is A Name For Everything
This band from Northern France has chosen a rather bizarre name. Maybe they have been inspired by the American TV series Hawaii Five-O which ran from 1968 to 1989. If you live next to the cold North Sea, it is understandable that you start dreaming about the much warmer Pacific coast.
Not only their TV habits, but also their music shows the Frenchmen’s love for the past. The debut album There Is A Name For Everything sounds as if it was released nearly twenty late. Globally speaking, their music can be labelled Nineties alternative rock. But you never know exactly what their aim is. Five ((O)) are at their best when they are acting groovy. Therefore Coffin Cruiser and The Score, reminding not only a little of King’s X, are the CD’s highlights. Whenever they are playing harder, a stoner component appears, which can be witnessed on Capricorn. Grunge also plays an important role. While the mid-tempo material reminds somewhat of Alice In Chains, the harder songs are closer to an angry Soundgarden.
This is all nice and good for a couple of tracks, but the band lacks enough own ideas to be able to entertain throughout the album. Moreover there are with Foursquare and A Split Glove to very quiet and weak songs that were just not yet mature enough to be recorded… except if you like lame bands like Creed maybe.
There are certainly also a couple of good tracks on There Is A Name For Everything, but the entire album leaves a somewhat stale aftertaste. Five ((O)) could only take advantage if they decided to act a little heavier, and also find a common thread running through the album. Right now, it seems as if it had been a better idea to restrict their record to the EP format containing only their stronger material.