Bayside "Sirens and Condolences" CD
[Victory]
Hey, this isn't bad. I can live with this. It's emo/indie rock stuff, but it's got a nice heavy edge to it. It's not metal in the least, make no mistake, but it's got a lot of density and there's some crunch in there. It's also cool because it's catchy and has that poppy thing going on, but it's not like little kid poppy. It's not whiny or sappy or super goofy or whatever. There are a lot of great vocal harmonies, the singing is nice and standard, the writing has a good dose of rock in it without being overly simple or stripped down, etc. In some respects it sounds like newer Jimmy Eat World combined with later Doughboys or something. I can dig it. Hell, some of the guitar parts have a certain 80's pop rock sort of thing going on too, reminding me of Bryan Adams' finer moments, believe it or not - layering clean or acoustic guitars with distorted guitars, bringing in some piano here and there, and so on. The recording's cool in my book, too. It could use some work, on a minor scale, but I love the overall density of it. The bass presence is rock solid, the guitar tone is thick but clear, the vocals sound great, etc. The drums are a tad unbalanced (the cymbals sound great and the snare is resonant, but the kicks are a little off), but the mix is fairly cohesive so I'm not bothered by that so much. The CD-Rom portion of the disc has a couple of videos on there with the band talking about the songs and some footage in Maryland where they recorded and stuff like that. It's not essential, but it's better than average when it comes to extra little add-ons and whatnot. I love the layout here for whatever reason. It's a little different from the usual fare. The cover photo is awesome as hell (granted it would be exponentially more subtle and interesting were the emo looking goofball wearing all black not sitting in the background), the first four pages of the booklet are straight photos of wallpaper, and the rest of the booklet uses a pattern that mimics that look, but combined with text. The lyrics are personal and seem pretty standard, so I don't really form much of an opinion there. Not bad at all. I've heard better, but this is a pretty damn promising record, and I could see them getting much better with time. (7/10)
Running time - 39:46, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Poison in My Veins, Phone Call From Poland, Alcohol and Altar Boys, Guardrail]
Victory Records - http://www.victoryrecords.com

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