This is a review of "The way we bring it down" recorded by The Hoarse. The review was written by Richard Garnett in 2004.

Where The Hoarse bring it down is simply to your local pub jam night. With a proficient wibbly blues guitarist and armed with a bucket load of tried, tested and generally worn out pub-rock clichés this is the stuff the 12 pint fat bloke at the bar will tell you is the best band you've ever heard.

The Hoarse are not "now", in fact they're so far from it that this CD evokes a sense of admiration for a band sticking to their true values. Of course all of this would be fine and dandy were the songs up to the task of carrying this album past the pre-conceptions of such an antique genre.

For a brief time things look promising, not astounding but promising. Title track "The way we bring it down" opens the album with some gusto and "Bring it on" followed by "Move up close" are by the numbers crowd pleasers. The problems start with the transgression into Oasis style plods shifting from blues rock to blues ballads. "Moon and stars" is no doubt a popular song in the band's repertoire pulling as it does all the right sentimental stunts but it's so formulaic it's hard to credit. The ideas dry up on tracks 5-7 and some severe bottom of the barrel stuff is dredged up in the terrible "Queen D Blues" and equally painful "Smile".

As you might expect the irony of it all is The Hoarse are talented and accomplished musicians it's just that the field in which they've chosen to graze isn't particularly lush.