Roy's Iron DNA - Men In Wax Jackets

Album Review for The Skinny

roy's iron dna - men in wax jackets (**)

On debut album Men In Wax Jackets, Edinburgh-based Roy's Iron DNA distinguish themselves from other budding bands by combining trip-hop beats, echoing dub grooves and the production values of a smoke-filled room to menacing effect. It’s not obviously like anything else, and could’ve been a winner without some foot-in-mouth vocal choices. While acknowledging that there must be a plurality of opinions in music, the ominous atmosphere and dubious social commentary of second track Silent Majority is unsettling, and surely cannot be spoken in reference to Scotland’s capital. The flat vocal melody of Soon You’ll Know makes a hash of the clichéd hook “we’re only waiting for the sun”, and the unintelligible foreign mumblings on the bass-heavy Bruma appear to be nothing but a pretentious patchwork designed to cover-up a shortage of ideas. Unfortunately, what good ideas Roy's Iron DNA do have are watered down within the context of a full-length that is more troubling than it aims to be.