REVIEW OF “CABIN FEVER” by ’92 in the Shade / Reviewer: Andre Avanessian
Combining an unbridled attitude, lyrical bite, and a gritty presentation, “Cabin Fever” is a sonic assault on the senses, and in the best possible way, ’92 in the Shade is a love letter to the classic bygone days of the grunge era, encompassing all of the attributes the genre was known for, dark and somber lyrics, intense performances, dirty riffs, and a “rough around the edges” presentation, this is grunge in it’s purest and most unapologetic form, and it just works!
The lyrics are brilliantly dark, there’s a real intensity to them that makes you pay attention, they fit the style of the track like a glove and give the song its brooding tone. Intense lyrics are not much without a performance to match, and the lead vocalist does an excellent job of matching the ferocity of the words, giving a performance that has both a great amount of attitude and energy. The vocalist is backed by a positively dirty musical backing, and this is definitely meant as a compliment, it wouldn’t be grunge without it, the guitars have a great amount of grit to them when they need to be heavy and plenty of clarity when in the clean sections, it’s a good balance that helps create contrast and ensure the track has a good dynamic to it. The performances across the board are excellent and this really does feel like a band that gels together very well, it helps give the song its high intense level of energy, and because the writing is solid, the flow of the track is excellent, the overall arrangement has plenty of diversity in it to keep the audience invested from start to finish making for a great listening experience.
Fans of grunge and alt. rock will certainly see the appeal of this track, it does a great job of capturing the energy of the style as well as that very particular sound.
About the Reviewer:
Andre Avanessian is a freelance session musician, composer, and sound engineer based in the U.K.