The Cardinal Effect "Red Light Carousel" CD
[Tribunal]
These guys blend metalcore, emo, and a slick sort of major label alternative metal kind of sound fairly well, so even though I'm not totally into this I have to give them credit for having a lot of potential.  The singing vocals are really damn good, much more so than most bands of this nature that I come across in more underground circles, and that makes a huge difference.  In addition to the singing and vocal harmonies there's also plenty of screaming, while the music jumps from tactfully chunky metallic hardcore rhythms to melodic power chords, post-hardcore textures, a few lighter moments contrasted by those that get harsher and more acerbic (in small amounts), etc.  The songwriting's not bad either, mind you.  Unoriginal and a little contrived by today's standards, yeah, but it's good.  My only issue is that most of the songs sound pretty damn similar to one another, and none of them really hit the jackpot as far as coming across as totally catchy or memorable, so it's just a consistent set of decent songs that don't rise above to the point where they really hit me.  The recording walks similar territory in that it's pretty good, but not quite what it needs to be to really pay off.  It's pretty evenly mixed and the tones are solid, but it needs to be a little more polished.  I mean, this style is the kind of stuff that sounds best when it's super clean and rounded out, you know?  Without major label money it's of course understandable to come up short of that, but they have done well regardless.  The guitar tone is heavy without drowning out the basslines, the drums are crisp but not so taut that they cut through the mix, etc.  The vocals are almost dead on, so... it only needs minor tweaking.  Among the more noteworthy moments...  Despite hitting on some goofy radio sounding stuff "Cottonstar" effectively blends the heavy and the melodic tendencies; "We (The Enemy)" has the strongest chorus of the entire record, though sadly the verse parts are a little annoying and lose a ton of steam with the droning guitar parts and softer vocals obscured by effects; while the openly melodic "Tides" is a little more consistent than the other tracks.  It's a shame these two come so late in the disc, but that's life.  "Press Your Eyes" uses acoustic guitars and programmed drums to stand out as a much different tune, but it seems a little forced, and while not so bad it just doesn't do much for me (plus the rhythm guitars sound a little off as far as tuning/intonation during the chorus).  The layout's not working for me simply because the imagery strikes me as goofy.  The text is crisp and it has a generally professional look, it's just not something I find interesting to look at in the least.  The same goes for the lyrics for the most part, as lines like, "Bleeding for you.  Fall for you.  The sun will set on your black heart," simply seem rehashed and devoid of any significant emotion at this point.  They also forgot to put the last track on the tracklist, even though it appears in with the lyrics.  Go figure.  I'll admit, I thought this disc was going to be terrible, but in the end I won't be at all surprised if this band is pretty damn popular within a couple of years.  You never know, they could hit a wall since they're not on that big of a label, but... despite lacking creativity there's a lot of quality to this record that makes it stand apart in that regard if nothing else.  It's a little cheesy, but I like this stuff sometimes and I think this band could nail it without much more effort.  I bet they're pretty popular locally... who knows? (6/10)
Running time - 37:05, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Cottonstar, We (The Enemy), Tides]
Tribunal Records - http://www.tribunalrecords.net

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