Battleska CD
Battleska are based in Harlow and are an instrumental Ska / Punk/ Funk/ Swing/ Jazz band. They combine all of these elements to produce superb Ska fuelled tunes with lots of added surprises. The only vocals they include really are a few random Oi’s , but there is one song with vocals and for the most part they do not need vocals anyway as they are superb without them. The song that does include vocals is ‘Lets Battle’ and is a truly awesome song. The word ‘Oi come on, lets go, lets battle!’ really get stuck in your head after listening to it a few times and it is just awesome. They have a very unique sound to the few vocals that they have which makes them stand out from the others as they have such a new sound. They do not put on any whiney American accents and I respect them for this. The saxophone on this CD is played well throughout, on some tracks bringing a Ska feel to it as it is played in a traditional Madness kind of style. In other songs however, the sax makes them sound more Jazzy, but no matter what style they are playing they always manage to pull it off somehow. The drumming is quite slow paced on this CD as it fits in with the style of the music and if it were any faster it would seem out of place. The guitar and bass lay down the basic beat with the drumming on this CD and as there is an absence of vocals most of the time with this band, the saxophone really seems to come through and take the place of the vocals meaning that they are not needed. This band is here to entertain you, while also having a great time themselves. This is a good little 8 track here, and this band seems to take in a hell of a lot of influences.