Reviews

It was a sad day when a message appeared on the Irritant website declaring that the band had parted ways.

Despite the assurance that they were "still friends", the band was - and remains - no more.

All of which leaves a question in the minds of Gloucestershire hard rock fans: where to now for a fix of music that will make your ears bleed? The answer may lie in the bizarrely named Rookie/Error.

While the band do not quite fill the amply sized boots of their irritated predecessors, Rookie/Error remain a force to be reckoned with.

While Irritant combined the styles of Metal and Prog Rock to provide an Earth shatteringly intense sound, Rookie/Error, take their noise sounds down a slightly different path.

Theirs is a Nu-Metal riot of a sound last heard issuing forth from the likes of Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and other angst ridden, guitar wielding adolescents from the turn of the millennium.

Rookie/Error

Anger Management

Each song is filled with its own unique blend of rage and sadness, cooked up with a secret recipe best known to the band themselves.

"Anything is better than the life I've got right now" is the first thing you'll hear from them on their MySpace page.

It's a perfect summary of the intense self loathing and misanthropy that follows.

"Hell is where we are" is the Satrian theme of "Minds and Theories" for example. It's all cheery, cheery stuff and there's much more where that came from.

Five tracks are available to listen to on MySpace. Well, three and two halves, to be more precise.

The opening two tracks, "Anything is Better" and "I Can Smell a Storm Coming" are cut off in their prime - so a full picture of the band's primal sound remains unavailable to all but the most determined of fans.

Reasons to be Miserable

Nevertheless, there is plenty of meat on the more complete tracks.

"8 Reasons" opens up with a sonic whirlwind that morphs into a tirade of guitars and angry, angry lyrics.

It is among the band's strongest songs, complete with screeching guitar solos, chugging bass lines and angry half rapped half sung lyrics and plenty of screaming.

Despair never sounded so enticing.

"I can Smell a Storm Coming" features the prominent lyric "Take it Slow". However the song does anything but. 

With an introduction strangely reminiscent of The Ramones' "We're A Happy Family", the song is a Blitzkreig of a track that will tear through your brain with wild abandon.

Rookie/Error

Un-forgiven

The chugging bass lines make a welcome return in "Minds and Theories". Lyrics are spat out with the poisonous velocity of venom from a Cobra.

"Like a bullet from a friend" is the macabre, manic mantra of the lyrics. There's much talking of forgiving and forgetting, but that's all it is: talk.

This is a song about unforgettable, unforgivable betrayal.

"Trace The Line" meanwhile is a typical loud-quiet-loud sandwich of a song: paint it by numbers hard rock that ticks all the right boxes - especially with the sandstorm of guitars midway through the song.

Come On Feel the Noise

It's all noisy, head banging stuff that, left unchecked will give the less cautious listener a case of whiplash.

If you get a chance, please, please see this band live. You'll probably go deaf afterwards, but the experience may almost be worth it.

Rookie/Error are an impassioned bunch of noise-mongers. Between the four of them they bring a somewhat dated style (if only a mere eight years over ripe) back into the lime light.

It may not be time for a full Nu-Metal revival, but the odd outing from Rookie and/or Error will be more than welcome.

This article is an external contribution and expresses a personal opinion, not necessarily the views of the BBC.

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