Album Review/ Alt Rock : The Fine Chairs’ ‘To Be Seated’

The Fine Chairs are a Germany-based rock band with a compelling pulse. They have a hard rock base, a solid foundation that they then skillfully take to alt rock spheres. Their songs are a journey in style, emotion, energy, and mood. They like to maintain a dynamism that keeps the listener sparked. Weaved in influences, energetic bursts, changing rhythms, catchy riff breaks, it’s all part of their changing reality. Their latest release is ‘Wait to be Seated’ a twelve-track album that showcases their expanding range and explorative impulse. 

‘Half the Truth’ is a hard-hitting hard rock song, introducing the collection. It is made with burning riffs, punching beats, a buzzing bassline that fills the room.  The coarse, gritty vocal line drives and drills through this soundscape, wearing you down in a way that takes you back to bands like The Kooks, Catfish and the Bottleman. We see similar moods and instrumental atmospheres in tracks like ‘Best By Far’, ‘Living on Lies’, ‘Through Empty Space’ and ‘Feet Upon My Shoes’. The spectacular guitar presence with a dizzying array of riffs and vital basslines. It fizzes you up, getting you ready to burst into the scene. It is impossible to be unaffected. That piercing vocal quality matched with deep and driving instrumentals really take it to the next level. 

The artists have a remarkably unique sound. It had a kick but also a smooth sophistication in the way they envision it. That Brit-induced alt pop guitar sound with nostalgic choruses and a melodic indulgence. They want to immerse the listener in the sound, with no empty spaces. Tracks like ‘Strength and Hope’, ‘Rain in my Face’, and ‘You Did Never Try’ are slow burn, evocative tracks. They take you back to 90s alt, to bands like Nirvana and Oasis. There are those deep sinking guitar works that light up emotional networks in you that you didn’t know existed. Of course there are dazing, cerebral grooves and textures that bring a contemplative mood to the scene. It’s the kind of tracks that make you feel strikingly human. 

‘It’s Not What We’d Call Heaven’ and ‘In Beauty and In Grace’ have a more dated feel. They have that 70s classic rock feel with an orbit of hard rock around it. Slow, flowing vocals matched with intuitive rhythms and fresh melodies revive it at each curve. The vocals also have a refreshing tone as it explores the theme. Epiphanic and uplifting, grounded by a bitter-sweetness or even a touch of melancholy. 

This band is immediately remarkable. Their sense of style is informed by an unabashed, unapologetic intensity and love for rock. They don’t tone it down. They only go deeper and deeper, looking for nuanced ideas and concepts to make it more immersive. This, matched with a will to play and and perform revives the spirit of rock. You feel electrified and charged in ways that you don’t encounter anymore. It’ll have you coming back for more. Listen Now! 

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The album is available for streaming and purchase on Bandcamp! 

You can listen to ‘Wait to be Seated’ by The Fine Chairs here -