Poste 942 – Long Play – Album Review

These big beardy chaps from Tourves, France have released their debut full length album, and Long Play is a long player that incorporates a multitude of styles, namely stoner rock/metal, grunge, southern rock, blues and good ol’ hard rock!

By channeling such a number of styles and sub-genre’s Poste 942 run the risk of losing focus and that’s pretty much what we encounter on pressing play. “Pigs In Paradise” sounds like an off-cut from a Nirvana or Pixies record and lacks a sense of originality, relying instead on a Joey Santiago-esque guitar tone to carry it home. “Grace” is a slow-burn doomy/blues number that hits pretty hard as frontman Seb U’s howls and hollers over sledgehammer riffs but its a track that’s at odds with the aptly titled, punked-up “Punky Booster” and the southern-fried coating of “Whiskey”, which comes replete with “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N’ Roll)” bagpipes.

A few filler moments – including an ill-advised dive into Nickleback territory on “Psycho Love Part I” – hamper proceedings somewhat but let’s be clear about something, these are good songs but there’s a lack of coherence that shudders and stalls when Poste 942 should be putting the pedal to the metal! Finding a singular groove may prove to be their making but at least songs such as the soulful stomp of “Color Of Red” and the choppy rhythms of “Breathe” are notably energetic and provide more than enough head-banging thrills.

Ignoring Poste 942’s identity crisis, Long Play proves to be an entertaining affair with the driving anthem “49.3” and the aforementioned fuzzy riffs of “Grace” heralding themselves as highlights. There’s a perfect 8 track album fighting to be heard here but, in the interim, we’ll make do with the sporadic but ultimately enjoyable 13 track buffet Poste 942 have presented us with. 7/10