New Music Monday: Apache Rose is Catching Some Real ATTENTION!
From the opening moments of “Easy”, it’s pretty apparent that Moscow based Apache Rose was born and bred on 90s alternative rock, notably the grooves and grime of grunge. While the post-grunge movement here in the US cleaned up the grime with an arena rock sheen with bands like Creed, Apache Rose wipes off the grime without going that route. Instead, their post-grunge sound blends strong influences from bands like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Stone Temple Pilots with poppier alternative sounds like those of REM or even more modern acts like Artic Monkeys to put forth a sound that those who also were raised in the grunge era can’t help but feel is familiar and comforting, while also allowing anti-grunge avengers and haters of post-grunge movements like arena and nu-metal to enjoy them as something unique and new.
Vocally, the similarities to Layne Staley and Scott Weiland can’t be denied. While it’s certain that vocalist Ilya Novokhatskiy isn’t emulated anyone and has his own unique voice, he certainly channels the vibe of that 90s alternative sound, both in the grunge world and beyond. In poppier tracks, the upbeat feel of the songs seems to borrow some affect from the punk and pop punk genres, as well. Though, the guitar work always makes sure to remind us that this is not a three chord band by any stretch.
In other words, their influences aren’t simply one sound or genre, but rather a blender filled with many types of rock and alternative music. In their own words, they explain just that:
We wanted to make an album like the ones we love, the one you could listen on repeat. Like Aerosmith’s Rocks, Metallica’s Kill’em All, Sex Pistols’ Nevermind the Bollocks, Nirvana’s Nevermind, Soundgarden’s Superunknown, Stone Temple Pilots’ Core, Arctic Monkeys’ first album. We hope we succeeded.
While a few songs jump out as being immediately worthy of being put on repeat, the entire album really hits from start to finish, creating an album that could easily be placed in a rotation with the likes of those they mentioned here. But, if you need a little taste to start before you dive in head long, here are a few recommended tracks to start with…
- “On My Watch” rocks like a grunge track with very Staley-esque vocals in the chorus. A great melodic rocker, this one is definitely for fans of the grunge movement, but with a bit less of that grease and grime that defined some of the Seattle sound of that era.
- “Backdoor Man” feels like a song that a band like Sponge could have released, but also wouldn’t have felt all that out of place on a modern throwback rock act’s album, ala the aforementioned Arctic Monkeys or someone a bit groovier like Queens of the Stone Age or eagles of Death Metal.
- “Hell” reminds me a bit of Guns, with a Axl-like vibe on the vocals and guitar work that feels like it could have been written by Slash. If nothing else, it’s a truly catchy song.
