28 Days: Upstyledown

(Mushroom)

Herald rating: * * *

Review: Russell Baillie

Touring here this week, then returning for the Big Day Out, Melbourne mob 28 Days have hit the big time in Oz with their debut album.

It certainly lives up to the band name — they've rehabilitated quite a bit of the the past rock decade, a period that for this outfit seems to have started with Faith No More, taken in Offspring-type punk-pop and with quite a rap-metal habit to boot.

They have a turntablist, though his scratching really only makes a difference on a few brief instrumentals.

While originality of approach might be a problem and adherence to the formula makes this an album that flags in its final stage, 28 Days still frequently have a buzzpower loud and pop hooked enough to knock your baseball cap backwards. That's complete with hip-hop go-go-go … and punk-pop whoa-ohs, though it leans harder on the latter on tracks like the one-fingered salute of an opener The Bird, the rap-rock Sucker and the Blink 182-ish Goodbye.

They might not exactly be the future of Oz rock, but if they work their way just as energetically through their influences, 28 Days could well prove something more here than the flavour of somebody else's month.