Snowdogs "Deep Cuts, Fast Remedies" CD
[Victory]
This Finland via London trio is back already with another full-length of 12 tracks of pop punk that's definitely more diverse and developed than their last record, although they stray a bit too far from what they do best. It's kind of funny because there are some riffs and vocal harmonies in here that totally bring glam metal to mind. Call me crazy, but I'm down with that, whether it's intentional or not. Sometimes the high pitched vocals can get on my nerves a little bit, but just barely, and I absolutely love the vocal harmonies. I'm half tempted to say that they should literally harmonize every damn word! Overall though this isn't as memorable as their last record. It's still pretty good, but not that many songs really jump out at me and the catchy energy of the last album seems to be missing for the most part. And there are some tracks that just don't fit at all. "Freedom for Everyone" drops some out of place old school sounding hip-hop beats and is actually a really boring song. It's not my thing at all and really comes off as cheesy despite its serious intent with the animal rights message. The disc takes an even bigger dive past the halfway point. "End of the World" is based around acoustic guitars and accordion or something like that, and while it's interesting to hear them branch out, this song is crap... It literally sounds like the Barenaked Ladies or something, but possibly worse. And then "Hour of Sunshine" is a horrible ska track, using completely derivative chord progressions and horns, the works... Again, not my thing in the least, and I just don't really understand what they're going for. The production is okay, but the guitar sound needs some work, and the vocals are a bit too bright for their already high pitched delivery. I like the way the rhythm section sounds because it's full and natural, but the guitars are thin and slightly distant, and there's some muddiness going on that prevents the better songs from really packing a punch. I don't like the layout here. I do like the fact that the general appearance is consistent with their last CD (black and white with some red), but this time around things just don't look right. I don't like the font used for the song titles at all, it looks silly to have the song titles written on badly computer drawn band-aids, and they waste a lot of space repeating the tracklist very large inside the booklet when it already appears on the back cover. The only thing I do like is the fact that the lyrics appear in plain black text on a blank white background, because it looks very compact and efficient. The lyrics aren't exactly my thing though, as even when they try to convey an obvious message in an uncommon manner, it just comes off as cheesy: "We've all heard the stories told, When birds used to sing with glee, Green pastures and fields of gold, Where our four-legged friends ran free, But they ain't free no more, They're dirty and unclean, Brought up by a machine, We're gonna set 'em free!" Ummm, okay... you do that. I don't know, I was pleasantly surprised by their last record, and this one started out sort of strong... but aside from a couple of memorable tracks a lot of this stuff is boring. It's a shame. "Average Kid" and "Amazon" are great songs, but all of the wacky genre hopping just seems too haphazard. Oh well, what can you do? (5/10)
Running time - 44:22, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Average Kid, Amazon]
Victory Records - http://www.victoryrecords.com

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