When you make an album that begins with a choir of voices singing “we’re here to save the world”, both expectations and eyebrows will be raised.
Melbourne band the Galvatrons have done exactly that, and have gone as far as beginning their first song on their debut album with this seemingly arrogant sentiment. However, once you’ve listened to the rest of the record, it becomes clear that the band doesn’t take itself as seriously as they appear to. Music videos depicting them flying through the sky on electrically charged black cubes, with a dancing holographic girl are nothing but epic and spectacular in their grandiosity.
Shamelessly 80s from look to sound, the Galvatron’s Laser Graffiti is a step back into the best that the era had to offer. Synthesisers galore and rollicking drums conjure up images of fluoro spandex, sweatbands and Justin Hawkins.
Johnny Galvatron’s throaty vocals are an instrument in themselves, especially on tracks such as ‘Cassandra’, where he manages to squeeze an extra syllable into the name of the girl that got away. There is also something effortlessly groove-worthy about naming a song ‘Robots Are Cool’, and combined with its layered keys and warm, punchy beats, ‘Robots’ is a stand-out track on the record.
‘Molotov Cocktail’, with its stunningly grating electric guitar and ‘ooh yeahs’ is also an experience, along with ‘We Were Kids’, a reproduced version of their popular track ‘When We Were Kids’, taken from their EP of the same name. While the new version lacks some of the rawness of the original, it nevertheless captures the same nostalgia for youth.
As the Galvatrons tread a thin line between homage and parody, they fall short at times with the over-indulgence in their penchant for grandiose sounds on tracks like ‘Galaxy Destroyer’, which could have done with a little less choir and drawn out synthesised chords. There is only so much the audience will let you get away with, but then again, when you’re named after a character from Transformers, you probably don’t care too much about what the audience thinks.
For fans of the Galvatrons, we’ve also got a video interview available! Click here to have a look.
