Reviews

Rock Sound

There is a great review in Rock Sound's August edition.

Classic Rock

There is a great review in Classic Rock's AC/DC August edition (out in the shops now). Check it out!

Classic Rock Society

Noxious are a brash and uncompromising four-peice from England specialising in guitar-driven garage rock. The music is pretty unsophisticated but then, I guess, that it is meant to be with the songs being short and straight to the point.
They are obviously influenced by the new breed of american rock bands currently surfacing and I dare say that they could give many of them a run for their money. They are all around twenty years old, so are quite young and still feeling their way but this is not a bad first attempt. Vocalist Lee Verralls has a distinctive drawling delivery that hints at attitude and Joe Green on guitar revels in the power chord but really thrills when he cuts loose.
Holding it all together in pounding fashion are Will Shearer on bass and Luke Ford on drums. The CD is only 33 minutes long so this is really only a taster of things to come.

Hastings Observer

Friday 28th January

Theres' s a whiff of something promising in the air, and it smells like teen spirit.
Hastings four piece noxious have grown immeasurably from their early days on the scene, and By word of mouth – their debut album on Eastbounre lable Galaxy Records- has the distinct air of a band who realy care about every click and whstle of their sound.
Even a cursory glance at the packaging of the CD itself suggests the band have the ambistion to take their sound to the next level.
And this impression is borne out by the material, from the grimy, industrial pretty perfect to secrete (stoner song), which accelerates into high speed like a pez dispenser shot out of a cannon.
Album- opener Mistake ranks amongst the most addictive songs realesed the year so far, complete with anthemic chorus and restrained, brooding vocals.
By word of mouth is available at a noxious gig near you.

Power Play Magazine

Dark storm clouds could be gathering. I've just been to a funeral myself and this is not really what I want to hear at the moment it is abit depressing! This Sussex quartet are as much fun as a slow drag by the legs over the stone on Hastings beach. Like me, I think Power Play readers are looking for a more happy medium these days. Nirvanah are well and truly dead and thank fuck for that, I say.
Wheather it's the record company or not, their debut single “I Don't Know” is truly uninspiring. “Pretty Perfect” is far better to mark their debut; it's more commercial with it's catchy chorus and easier on the ear. Elsewhere you get a mix of draining guitars, like on “Mistake”, a mockney vocal twist from singer/guitarist Lee Verralls on “Confused” and generally a wall of angst-ridden and sometimes overbearing edge; check out “Police Car”.
Looking for a positive note to end on, “Secrete (Stoner Song)”, “Inch Thick” and “Bright Lights” end the album in OK fashion, I suppose, particularly the latter of those with it's stinging, branding guitar.
Some may thing that their name alone could point to something dangerous musically. For now, file under innocuous.

The Mag
www.the-mag.me.uk

11/12/2005

A teasing countdown, the likes of which I haven`t seen since the good old days of the famous BBC clock, precedes the promotional video for Scuzz favourites, Noxious.

Video feature and latest single, "Police Car", is a rocker with a riff that brings to mind the Munsters. The vocal is an anglicised Corgan meets Cobain and mixes melody and barking rock howls. The chorus is brief but worthwhile and the song structure avoids doing the obvious several times.

"Masquerade" continues the thick riffy sound, with bass and guitars both heading for ground shaking distortions. The vocal is actually hookier in this track than on the a-side, but the choice of the more obscure track as the opener is actually the right one, leaving the b-side to mop up those that remain sceptical.

The pacey rock sound of Noxious is a cracking reflection of the biggest of rock bands on both sides of the Atlantic - with ballsy vocals, gripping songs and the down-to-business attitude of a proper British band.

09/09/2004

Hastings based rock band Noxious were second up with a rock sound that flitted between noisy and melodic at times sounding like Hell is for Heroes, Queens of the Stone Age and Three Colours Red.
A little more variety in the set would have been a bonus, but there were a couple of really good moments, mostly in the way they managed to create a big chorus in almost every song.
I imagine that these are songs that hook you on the second or third listen, so don`t give up on Noxious unless you have given them a second chance to impress.

South Scene
http://www.southscene.net
Noxious Live @ The Crypt
Artist: Noxious
Venue: The Crypt (Hastings)
Date: 16-10-004

For some reason The Crypt always makes me think of that hangout in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you know the one where people stand around while a band plays in the background. Well tonight is a bit like that, not that I watch Buffy or anything…...
Noxious are one of those bands who you could easily imagine appearing in that programme as they have all the right influences and style required.
To be honest Noxious aren't pushing the envelope musically, there not trying to push any boundaries, but that is the whole point of there being. They are musical magpies they rummage though the past and take the best bits putting them together in a way that makes the songs sound instantly familiar though you're sure you'd never heard them before. Traces of bleach era Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Queens of the stone-age, Greenday and a whole heap of others are evident in the music and yet Noxious don't sound like anyone of those in particular for long. This borrowing can't be overtly criticised, as it has always happened, bands have always taken inspiration from what has happened before and adapted it slightly. Can you honestly think of a band that hasn't?
The way the band present's themselves on stage tonight is also clichéd, we have the customary nodding of heads, the typical poses, the standard crowd interactions and responses. But at least they make an effort, watching the band you easily get the feeling that the band are doing this because they need to, that they genuinely need to express themselves and that they both want people in the audience and onstage to enjoy themselves.
Noxious are a bit like Marmite, you will either hate them as they aren't exactly doing anything revolutionary or you will love them because they aren't doing anything revolutionary.
If you are a fan of grunge or American rock in general then Noxious are definitely a band you should consider checking out, as chances are you won't be disappointed.
Date: 03-11-2004
Nathan Westley