Reviews of "Monster"

SINGLE OF THE MONTH:

Argh! A song that demands mental alertness. Just as I had opened my second bag of salt and vinegar crisps to that new Feeder record too. Hmm. I'd better get out of bed for this one. Martha! Where's my damn pants?!
Fever Fever sent us this single along with a lovely personal letter, accompanied by a photomontage of Kelly Brooke sporting a gorilla's head. The signs were looking good - and the music sounds even better. 'Monster' is a ferociously enjoyable artrock attack, led by drums which snap their jaws like a relentlessly pursuing Pac Man, guitars which quiver like Space Octopuses from a 1950s B-movie, and a female vocal which kicks your teeth out with a steel-capped hiking boot.
Well shucks! What else would you expect from Manchester's fantastic Cherryade Records, home to the arsonist queer-punk Ste McCabe and countless other strange geniuses? The label's gone from strength to strength since Huw Stephens awarded them his label of the year back in 2006, with bands like Fever Fever sounding like the missing link between the spiky, angular bands and the intelligently destructive hardcore ones.
What's more, apparently this Norwich three-piece fight each other live on stage, so you walk into to a gig, you walk out of a girls vs boys deathmatch.
What more could you possibly want?

Ric Rawlins for Artrocker.

Song of the day: Fever Fever

I am a living cliché. I cannot resist music that sounds like this. I do not even attempt to. Grating female vocals. Sound and fury. Never a pause for breath. Always another space to be filled in. Guitars that ricochet back and forth like they understand ‘Teenage Riot’ was when Sonic Youth turned spectacular. Frenzied. A sound that is equal parts post-punk and Riot Grrrl. (Are the two now indistinguishable?) From Norwich, one of the UK’s forgotten cities. Anger, oh yes. I have a feeling that my former beloved male-female art-rock band KaitO were from Norwich, and I have a feeling that Fever Fever probably know that fact too. Maybe this new trio even share a member? Who knows? Anyway, KaitO were ace, and Fever Fever were ace, and me…? Me? I’m a living cliché.

Everett True for Collapse Board.

A week which started with complaints about the current quality of guitar music has unfolded in a way to disprove virtually every complaint. Fine. I’d rather be wrong than live in a world of flaccid Coldplay and Los Campesinos doppelgangers.

Fever Fever don’t just protest against the blandness of their peers, they thrash wildly, viciously; pulling teeth for the fun of it. If you’ve ever experienced the visceral thrill of the mosh pit, your skin will prickle in anticipation of the friction, the sweat and the reckless abandonment approximately 15 seconds into 'Monster'.

'Monster' is as subtle as a punch in the face, and the adrenaline that floods your veins will be just as real. Fever Fever are bolshy and female, both of which are a very welcome change from the norm.

Their songs sound entirely carefree and cast-off, and yet this music is a diamond-sharpened splinter, shooting straight for the heart. You don’t make those songs without caring.

Fever Fever don’t so much demand attention as claw it from you whether you like it or not. Chances are, though, that you will – gutsy, guttural and gung-ho doesn’t begin to describe a band which sounds, frankly, fed-up of their surroundings and are shaping it to their preference by sheer force of will. Excellent.

Joe Sparrow for A New Band A New Day.