TeenagersInToyko – Sacrifice

Sacrifice is TeenagersInTokyo’s debut album, which has stormed the music industry in the very same way that it storms your ears the second you press ‘play’. Starting off with the title track, Sacrifice, the album rocks through a good hour of what is definitely more killer than filler, even to the very end track, 3046 which is definitely one of my favourites due to Samantha Lim’s ethereal vocals and the noticeable drop in tempo.

Where 3046 is quite understated and a little menacing, the majority of the album is filled with treats of loud, brash, shouty rock, some funky 80s synths, and catchy dance all tied together with Lim’s vocals that manage to be both strong and yet vulnerable. Stand out tracks are End It Tonight, and Peter Pan (which also has a rather cool, sinister video to boot) as both have a dancey beat causing an involuntary foot-tap, and are likely to please more mainstream ears, and the raucous moments of chaos in ‘Robocat’ are great and give an insight into the intensity the band are capable of, but don’t use often.

Are TeenagersInTokyo doing anything different though? They could easily be accused of jumping on the already overcrowded 80s revival bandwagon, especially as most of the tracks have a similar beat and synthesizer work, whereas a few slower tracks might have worked to mix it up a bit. It could also be said that they are a similar, lesser version of the bands they have been supporting on tour, like The Gossip. But Beth Ditto with this kind of I-might-sound-sweet-but-I’m-secretly-weilding-an-axe-behind-my-back attitude really would be something to be scared of. Ok, so it’s 80s revival, and the majority of the band are a bunch of girls, but they have an edge – it’s dark, and it’s very cool. They’ve got spunk, and I like it.