{"id":14440,"date":"2013-09-28T00:00:27","date_gmt":"2013-09-28T00:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=14440"},"modified":"2013-10-06T13:16:12","modified_gmt":"2013-10-06T13:16:12","slug":"album-review-ajenda-unrecognizable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-ajenda-unrecognizable\/","title":{"rendered":"AJENDA – Unrecognizable (2013) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

AJENDA
Unrecognizable<\/strong><\/span>
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\nSelf-released (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I always wondered what would happen if US pop star P!nk fronted a heavy rock band, and now I think my dreams have come true. Ajenda are a band hailing from Belfast in Northern Ireland, and in vocalist Jen Walker there is an air of that P!nk vibrancy, melody and attitude. Hell, even Jen\u2019s look can at times take on that P!nk aura, and I\u2019m all for it if she can pull it off and boy can she. <\/p>\n

Ajenda play a colourful brand of rock with a poppy tinge, the result being a real breath of fresh air that should certainly appeal to a wide range of music fans. <\/p>\n

Even after one listen of their ten-track debut opus, I\u2019m imagining Ajenda doing well in support of well-known bands on the US circuit, because this has a commercial edge to it. Album opener is \u2018Dirty Rock \u2018N\u2019 Roll\u2019 which, admittedly, does sound like one of those edgy P!nk numbers, from those exquisite harmonies and the deft guitars of Gavin Cairns who acts as an ample backbone to Jen\u2019s tones. <\/p>\n

Lyrically, there\u2019s a degree of simplicity about Unrecognizable<\/em>, as Jen soulfully barks, \u201cKeep the lights low, keep the lights low, set the tone… for the rock show\u201d<\/em> on \u2018Dirty Rock \u2018N\u2019 Roll\u2019, the soulful bark bleeding into a nice and catchy little chorus. While \u2018Tattoo\u2019 boasts a wistful piano and creates a mood that once again touches on that hard rock edge that P!nk has entertained us with over the years. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that Ajenda are merely P!nk mimics \u2013 far from it. \u2018Tattoo\u2019 stands alone as a mid-paced rocker that sounds like it\u2019s been rescued from the late 80s. The same could also be said for the title track which features some nice bass structures courtesy of Janny, while Peter\u2019s drums keep to the pace of the fiery guitar.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something harmless about this middle of the road rock record. To be honest, I expected a craving for something more diverse, but one can\u2019t help but be flustered by the breezy \u2018Paranoia\u2019 and the brooding \u2018Heaven\u2019s Tears\u2019 as Jen rasps, \u201cMaybe the angels can give me one last chance\u201d<\/em>. Again, I\u2019m hearing a strong P!nk influence.<\/p>\n

How Unrecognizable<\/em> goes down in the UK we\u2019ll have to wait and see, but with the likes of \u2018Otherside\u2019 and the acoustically drenched \u2018Hollow\u2019 I sense a real talent at the core of this record. However, Jen may suffer with those P!nk comparisons so she needs to find a little bit more identity in those smoking pipes. This is still a nice little record though, ending with the strains of the instrumental \u2018Olympus Monz\u2019, which is probably more U2 if anything. A second album can\u2019t come soon enough, because there\u2019s certainly a decent amount of potential here for Ajenda to make a name for themselves.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AJENDAUnrecognizable Self-released (2013)Rating: 7\/10 I always wondered what would happen if US pop star P!nk fronted a heavy rock band, and now I think my dreams have come true. Ajenda are a band hailing from Belfast in Northern Ireland, and in vocalist Jen Walker there is an air of that P!nk vibrancy, melody and attitude. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[761,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ajenda","category-album-ep-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14440"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14531,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14440\/revisions\/14531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}