CD Review – ‘2nd Avenue’ – No Justice

15 years ago Liv Carter Comments Off on CD Review – ‘2nd Avenue’ – No Justice

‘2nd Avenue’ – No Justice (Carved Records, 2010) 

After a few years conquering the Texas music scene, country rockers No Justice felt it was time to explore their horizons further; both artistically and practically. The result is their nationally released Carved Records debut album ‘2nd Avenue’.

The 10 tracks range from southern rock to pop rock with some blues rock and classic rock thrown in. Rock is definitely what this band does. Best examples are the solid ‘Going Nowhere’, ‘Just Get Going’ and the well-chosen first single ‘Love Song’.

When the tempo slows down, sometimes it works very well (‘Gone Ain’t Far Enough’ and ‘Heart on a Chain’), sometimes less so (‘Five More Minutes’).

Stand-out is ‘Coming up on the River’ with its footstomping delta sound. At the other end of the scale are ‘WW III’ and ‘Broken Heart Tattoo’, both are overly heavy with the guitars weighing down the tracks.

With aiming for a wider audience, it’s almost like the album tries to sound polished and radio-ready but surrenders grittiness and personality in the process. The title track is an example of this; it actually reminded me of Snowpatrol. I like the material here but more than once found myself wishing the songs were left sounding a little dirtier than they are now.

No Justice have in ‘2nd Avenue’ a solid collection of songs which could find a home on several radio formats.

Disclosure of material connection for this review. 
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Liv Carter

Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.
Liv Carter

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