Liars Academy "Demons" CD
[Equal Vision]
Hmmm... this is quite different from the band's last outing, unless my memory is failing me. I'm still not blown away, and I admit I think that the overall songwriting here is a bit stronger, but at the same time... elements of this are more like a radio rock band or something. For instance, "Dying as Fast as I Can" sort of has a John Cougar Mellencamp thing going on, by way of a band more like Chamberlain or something, though it's actually a damn good song - by far the best herein. I'm talking lots of open chords, dry singing and vocal harmonies, tambourine, the whole deal. On the other hand, "The Accountant" is much more caustic, with lots of riffing higher on the neck and quirkier vocals that lean towards shouting under a light filter. "Breathing" is largely acoustic guitars and vocals, with a few droning melodies deep in the background. Many of the other songs, though, are in a weird middleground between laidback radio rock and almost rocking radio rock. It's not too fast, not too slow, not too wimpy, but not particularly catchy or anything either. The melodies are often balanced, there's a common blend of clean and distorted guitars, etc. But no one song ever comes close to being as strong as "Dying as Fast as I Can" early on, so... there's only one real high point here ("Washing Machine" coming in second). As far as the sound goes, I don't mind it at all. It's really warm and natural with a cohesive mix, and that's about what I'd like to hear for this style of music. All of the instruments are important though, which is cool. You can always hear the bass parts playing a large role in the rhythm section, the layers of guitars are discernible on individual levels, etc. It sounds fine, really. And I quite like the artwork on this one, as the paintings on the outer digipack have a nice color scheme and interesting textures, and that continues with the booklet - sort of made out to look like worn and weathered book pages. The text is all quite clean and crisp as well. The lyrics are 50/50 for me, personal stuff, nothing too terribly specific, but I'm generally disinterested in what's happening there, with a few passages showing more promise, but nothing to write home about. I guess my only real complaint, again, is that I find the songwriting to be a little boring. There are a few good songs, a couple that are getting there, and then a handful that just aren't really doing anything for me. There's nothing bad per se, just a number of songs that are sort of... blah, you know? So, I'm still not won over by this band. They're good, but it's not really something I could listen to very often because it doesn't maintain a high enough energy level. Maybe next time... I hope. (6/10)
Running time - 43:04, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Dying as Fast as I Can, Washing Machine]
Equal Vision Records - http://www.equalvision.com

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