Album Review: Abbe May - Kiss My Apocalypse

Wow, talk about changing direction. Abbe May hasn't just ditched her usual style of hard-rock blues, she's shredded it and sent it to the place where winners from The Voice go, just so we never hear from it again. May says she's 'bored' with the guitar solos as she turns to a darker pop-oriented approach. This is all well and good. She's an artist and has every right to explore and play whatever she wants and not be pigeon-holed into certain genres. For some commentators, though, May's change of style has been associated with a brave feminist declaration of independence as she refuses to pander to what her mostly male audience desires of her. But I'm going to steer clear of gender politics here, for at the end of the day, it's definitely a bravely defiant move. But the main thing people still want to know is whether the album's any good and the answer to that is... well, it's okay.

Opener Hurricane Heartbeat is indicative of the incomplete ideas on offer here. It's literally 12 seconds of May's heartbeat. This could have been a cool basis for a longer song but that's all it is. Luckily it flows into the awesome Tantric Romantic, a dark trek into Nine Inch Nails-esque territory where the jagged guitars give it a thrilling edge in the closest May gets to her Design Desire persona. Perth Girls has a cool salsa air to it and Sex Tourette's is breezy and fun but ultimately the dark robotic beats and moaning, sexually charged vocals get a little samey as some good ideas are not developed. This could have been one seriously great album but this time it doesn't quite hit the mark.