Health is the latest effort from instrumental rock outfit Alpha Male Tea Party and although it’s a decent listen for the most part, there are some elements to the band’s sound that lets them down.
Health sees Alpha Male Tea Party give a musically solid performance, with a lot to take in over the course of the ten tracks, and there’s a good amount of complexity to the music whilst not being completely over the top. A particularly good moment on the album is the use of vocals for effect in closing track No More, as they give the song a little more ‘oomph’ and help to wind up the album with a bang because their inclusion is not what you’re necessarily expecting.
However, it just feels like there’s something missing when it comes to truly connecting with the music. There’s not a great deal of variation from song to song, and additionally some of the more repetitive sections end up sounding grating, rather than the earworms they should more rightly be – at times it feels like some of the tracks (for example, The Museum Of Walking and I Still Live At Home) could have a minute or two shaved off their duration with no real loss to the tracks.
As a whole, the album isn’t bad – it’s just a slight letdown as Alpha Male Tea Party is definitely a band that is capable of more than this.
6/10
