The Provenance - Red Flags
Peaceville Records - CDVILEF146 – 30th October 2006
by Tom Strutton
The Provenance’s fourth album, and debut for Peaceville Records, is a stale affair that leaves one with a rather bitter taste in the mouth. Though competently crafted and not without moments of charm,
Red Flags is, at worst, disposable punk-rock-pessimism-by-numbers. In light of the Swedish quintet’s self-proclaimed mission to ‘pound the shape of uniform, homogeneous and narrow-minded conceptions of the music scene at large’, it is clear that
The Provenance simply do not practice what they preach. Hyperbole such as this (why does a band need a mission statement?) is a deplorable aspect of promotion within the music industry, and in this case is typically misleading. So what is the truth regarding
Red Flags?
The first half-minute of opener
‘At the Barricades’ is full of flare and entirely captivating, setting a pace that co-vocalist Emma Helstrom not only fails to capitalize upon, but positively destroys. Guitarist Tobias Martinsson’s vocal contribution is much more suited to
Red Flag’s sound, producing some of the album’s more bitter-sweet moments (
‘Leave-Takings’,
‘The Cost’) that
almost lend credibility to
The Provenance’s aforementioned overblown mission statement. However, the most obvious flaw that pervades each one of these ten pseudo-musings on existential anxiety is a lack of opportunity for listener involvement;
Red Flags is impatient, and it presumes impatience in its audience, exemplified by the absence of tension-building elements. Unfortunately, each song comes over as a contrived cry for attention, revealing a creative force oblivious to the expressive power of subtlety. Casual listeners or fans of the band for whom this is not an issue will no doubt find much merit in this slick slice of commercial punk-rock angst, though ultimately this is another sad case of style over substance.
5.5/10
UM’s Review Rating Scale
Official Provenance Webstie
Official Peaceville Website
