I don’t know about you, but there’s just about nothing better than a party band making party tunes for getting absolutely rattled to on a Saturday night. Having followed the progression of Northeast Party House for the past couple of years, you get the feeling that the lads from NPH enjoy a good party and great times. I mean, they were literally named after a house where parties were held way too often. On their new album Dare, the band have upped the ante from their debut LP and turned in an album capable of creating an all-night rager.
Opening up the ten track LP is “Heartbreaker”. With its slow and groovy opening verse greeting the listeners’ ears, you just know that this track has been placed at the beginning of the album to set a high standard for the rest of the album. With the custom synth sounds and sleek vocals of front man Zach Hamilton-Reeves you’ve come to expect, Dare is off to a great start. The Duran Duran-esque “Your House” follows as the bass lines come to the forefront. The simple proposition of wanting to get to someones house is by no means ground-breaking, but here, it gets the job done.
“Wallflower” is a slow burning groover that only gets better the longer it gets, while lead single “For You” shows the tender side to a band you kind of expect them not to have. As the first taste of the album, it was a welcome change in style and influence, while the closing drop is stellar and pretty similar to “The Haunted” from their debut, Any Given Weekend.
“Diamond” has a real 80’s vibe to it, with the cowbell being ridiculously infectious through out the tracks run. Cowbell is simultaneously an over used and under used device in modern, and on “Diamond” the band have pretty much crushed the level of usage. The sister song, or cowbell cousin, on the album is the titular “Dare”; a real ‘I’m going to use all my powers of interpretive dance to woo over this girl’ type of track.
Bookending the album and helping close out Dare is “Love Machine”, a real stand out on the album. As the most aggressive track on the LP, you sense “Love Machine” will be the perfect closer for live sets during the touring cycle for the album. The closing minute has a real punk/ “Killing In The Name Of” vibe to it. The “Yeah, Yeah” of Hamilton-Reeves before the final drop is my favourite two seconds of the album.
For a second album that follows the path its predecessor laid, Dare doesn’t really break too much new ground. And frankly, I’m fine with that. Northeast Party House are playing to their strengths here, and have released an album that will more than likely soundtrack the nights that lead to the filthiest of hangovers this coming summer.
Review Score: 7.8 out of 10.
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Dare is out now!
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