A Change of Pace "An Offer You Can't Refuse" CD
[Immortal]
A catchy song's a catchy song, and that's what this band has going for 'em, along with a good recording, because their style is totally derivative these days, and this is nothing special. However, memorable songs and the kind of crisp recording that major label budgets can buy are still able to churn out decent records, formulaic or not. What's it sound like? Radio emo. You know, super clean high-pitched singing with plenty of vocal harmonies, some screaming, mildly heavy chord progressions that range from midpaced and sort of "ballad" sounding to upbeat and catchy, a few clean passages, tinges of pop-punk or light dashes of metallic riffing, etc. The slower and lighter songs like "December" definitely get pretty cheesy and are kind of hard to stomach because this particular band really does come across as typical and naïve... but then there are total sing-along numbers like "Asleep at the Wheel" that are pretty undeniable, and it's that catchy shit that hooks me like a sucker every time. They tend to pull off the more aggressive tunes such as "Know One Knows", complete with screaming and a crazy tapping solo, far better than the sappy crap, so I'd much prefer it were they to focus on that half of the disc and the super catchy songs... leave that laidback junk to bands with less potential talent, you know? I mean, tracks like "A Farewell to a Friendship" are just sad... and I don't mean "sad" emotional, I mean "sad" lame... the kind of shit that's screaming to be featured in an episode of "The O.C." or some shit, you know? Acoustic guitars, keyboard string orchestrations, choral vocal harmonies... hey, when Green Day did it they made a billion friggin' dollars, right? But at least it somehow sounded genuine coming from them! The production? Why even bother talking about it? Immortal Records is a subsidiary of a major label or something like that, so of course it sounds pretty pristine. It's clear as hell, everything is bright and ultra polished, etc. They could use more low-end for sure, and the guitars could benefit from a slight kick of added heaviness, but... it's a really nice sounding record for that whole clinically compressed manufacturing and stuff. Visually I'm not really into the imagery on this one but the quality of the design and photography is great, and everything's printed on matter paper so the overall presentation is pretty classy. Even though the lyrics are a little better than average for the style, it's still your typical relationship turmoil type of stuff, with song titles like "Death Do Us Part" and "Goodbye for Now" among several that hint at what to expect... so it's fairly basic. It's kind of a shame, because I'm all over this stuff when it's done right, and these kids are damn close. But fuck all the cheesy slower songs that are all the same boring chorus for three minutes. "Asleep at the Wheel" is a perfect song for this style, and a few others come close to the mark as well... so they ought to beef it up a bit. The pieces are in place, but it really sounds contrived on this one, to the point that it's a problem - and that's kind of rare. Usually it's like, "Ehhh, these guys just aren't good writers," or, "Well, these dudes aren't that tight as musicians." But with this one it's like, "Damn, it sounds good, they're tight players, the songs are alright... I just don't feel any real heart in it." Know what I mean? Maybe next time, though. I think this their debut, and Christ, I'm like 10 years older than the oldest member of this band, so... they're still young yet. Yeah, maybe next time... (6/10)
Running time - 38:51, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Every Second, Asleep at the Wheel, Know One Knows]
Immortal Records - http://www.immortalrecords.com

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