San Francisco alternative rock group Attik Door released their new album Never In Agreement last month. Originally from various corners of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), Liana Tovmasyan (vocals), Margarita Grabarova (bass), Igor Boyko (drums), Alex Shrayber (guitar), and Tim Shulepov (guitar) aim to lock in the culture from their countries of origin and fuse it with today’s musical trends.

The 10 tracks on this album are quite catchy, each in their own way. Each are set within a tight spectrum of melodies and incorporate various doses of hard and alternative rock, as well as metal, with faint flavours of pop rock and rock rap appearing here and there. Imagine No Doubt with a harder edge, infuse it at times with metal, rap, and alternative rock, and you have a good idea of what Attik Door sounds like.

The band clearly states its opinion of insincerity in the hard rock lead single, “Posers”. The guitar-heavy tune supports the staccato-like vocals that proclaim a wish for no “more of [their] kind” being made, reinforced by a big, almost anthemic chorus. The strong, distortion-friendly guitar intro in “Bleed” makes way for guitars, bass, drums, and singing that maintain a frenetic rhythm throughout the track, in which each band member solidly establish themselves as talented.

The similarities between Attik Door and the early days of No Doubt are especially clear in “The Front”, “Kosmos”, and “Moody”, be it composition, melody, or singing. The latter is an infectious guitar-driven track with some pop flavour one can easily imagine a concert crowd bouncing to and joining the very simple but fun chorus of “Moody/Lala”.

Not to say that the other tracks on this album wouldn’t translate well in a live setting—quite the contrary, actually. Well produced and well executed, Never in Agreement is a solid contribution to the plethora of rock albums already available, as Attik Door put their talents to good use, making good use of known melodic formulas and familiar sounds. More information about the band is available on their official website and their Facebook page.

Pictures provided by Independent Music Promotions.

First published on Blogcritics.

Re-published on Sahar’s Reviews on 30 June 2015.