BMA Single Review by Vince Leigh
Clocking in at just one minute and forty-eight seconds, Hydranaut’s Give ‘Em A Drink is one of the surprises of the band’s debut self-titled album, which was mixed and mastered by Jason Fuller (Nick Oliveri, King Parrot, Witchskull), and released in late 2022.
The track features an opening metal-based guitar riff that segues into a verse with a post-punk ‘race against time’ accompaniment underscoring a vocal line that employs a stabbing, incendiary energy. It’s an energy—and this is where some of the surprises of the track come in—that is menacingly infectious.
It’s an easy hook to latch on to—or rather, scream along to.
From here, the verse transforms into a musical interlude that utilises a descending chord progression to make the best of creating a sense of tension and impending upheaval. What transpires is the song’s chorus, the one-line title which becomes strangely anthemic when filtered through the staccato fire of the gang vocal.
Once the first chorus is done, we’re thrust back into the verses, which contain the same melodic arrangement and performance energy levels, leading us to believe that we will be taken once again through a repeat arrangement.
But this is where the other surprise awaits.
We get another serving of that plunging alternate guitar part, and one last reiteration of the song’s bellowed proclamation: give ‘em a drink, and we’re done.
In some sense, the track’s brevity, and its open-fire application, have the same concentrated efficiency as an accessible pop track. It’s an easily digestible series of musical flourishes alongside an identifiable, instantly communicable sing-along line. And there is a tincture of the humorous to it all. When experienced with the accompanying video, this idea is reinforced.
Give ‘Em A Drink is an over-before you- know-it, post-punk-rockmetal whirlwind; an amusing and entertaining kind.
You can hear this track on Spotify or Apple Music
