Album Review: Hadouken! - Every Weekend
- Written by Nicko J. Ruddock
Hadouken! are back with a new album, and within this they bring a collection of killer dance material. As any good album will, Every Weekend delivers a range of top-quality tracks that span across different branches of its chosen genre, including trance, drum & bass and a generous helping of dubstep-inspired sounds and drops.
The album begins with 'Vortex', a great opener with a dramatic build up. When the first riff kicks in you expect a half-time feel similar to most dubstep-inspired drops, but interestingly it then proceeds at a normal pace. This is refreshing to hear since it is unusual for a piece of modern music to step outside this overly worn mould, and surprise you with something that you wouldn't otherwise expect. This track features some interesting sounds throughout along with a fantastic vocal performance from James Smith, and this high standard continues up until the end of the album.
The album's lead single ‘Parasite’ will be familiar to any avid Hadouken! fan as it was originally released as a free download back in April 2012; we highly recommend that you check it out if you want a taste of what this album has to offer. ‘Parasite’ is a fantastic piece of songwriting, slowly bringing in extra parts one by one, building up and dropping out to bring in the full-on aggression to maximum effect. The instrumental section that follows features a triplet feel in the lead synth part that creates a nice groove within the synth part and although it’s unusual, it works extremely well. The chorus section involves some catchy “woahs” with a 3-part harmony that slowly descends and sounds absolutely beautiful. Another interesting part of this song is where it drops down to only sub-bass which; on cheaper systems without a sub, often just sounds like a section of silence. Also, the mini break before the next instrumental part is a great addition, challenging your expectations and bringing it back in with “jump!” is a great idea to prevent the track from becoming just another generic dance track.
Penultimate track 'The Comedown’ is an album highlight, with a great transition from calm trance into a heavier feel later in the piece. This song has a brilliantly intimate vocal performance including some of Smith’s amazing rapping that adds a cherry on top. Along with this stellar vocal performance, the juxtaposition within the line “its cold out here in the sunlight/But there’s nowhere that we’d rather be” is brilliant and the delivery of the line gives it such a powerful effect. Other great things within this song include the best drop on the album, complete with a perfect feel that just makes you move and a killer, expressive vocal harmony on the “oh, oh”s that punctuate the track. If you only check out one track from this album, make sure it's this one.
Overall Hadouken! Have created a great dance album with a range of styles to suit a variety of dance music enthusiasts. Despite this it often feels like they are trying to add some of that 'dubstep feel' to their instrumental sections like so many other popular artists have; for example, Taylor Swift keeping country alive with 'I knew you were trouble'. Because of so many artists jumping on this particular bandwagon it is hard not to compare them against each other, and thus a few drops seem to fall short against this standard. Despite this, Hadouken! have surrounded every dubstep-inspired drop with some killer music that is not to be missed. If you are a fan of dance music, we highly recommend that you check this album out.
Every Weekend is out now and available on amazon