Helicopter Helicopter "Wild Dogs with X-Ray Eyes" CD
[Initial]
Geez, these last three releases I've heard from Initial would lead me to believe that the label is stepping away from hardcore, as once more this band, stated by the label to be influenced by Tom Petty, Guided by Voices, and The Flaming Lips (i.e. crap, crap, and crap), is "alternative" rock or something of that nature. It doesn't sound like any of the aforementioned artists to me so much. It's tolerable, but not something I'd choose to listen to. I like the male/female vocals, but the songwriting is bland to me. It's simple, sometimes upbeat and melodic, sometimes rhythmic and driving... rock, basically. The vocal harmonies are nice, often making the choruses pretty damn good, but good choruses make little difference when most everything else is so tame. The brief "1234" lets the female vocals take lead (her voice is quite unique) and has a little bit of a harder edge, barely, and I like that. But the tempos still remain fairly consistent and moderate, making almost every song feel quite similar to the rest. "Pine Trees on Fire" is all acoustic guitar and vocals, so that does stand on its own, but there are very few moments that jump out at me. They do have a good sound. The bass throbs away right in heart of the mix, the drums sound pretty good, and everything is pretty dry... it sort of has that "hip" raw edge to it that's all the rage these days, but they've cleaned it up nicely so it works out fine. The layout is all red, white, and black with illustrations of wild dogs (of course) throughout. The text is clean and compact, everything is arranged nicely, etc. It looks good. As for the lyrics, they're somewhat strange, but I don't mind them. "Burn the witches if you see them, Scatter the ashes in the sea, The fish will feast upon them slowly, In the filtered sunlight of the deep." Apparently the band also supports animal rights, so they also provide a list of a few URL's to check out for information on that. I have to pass on this one, though. Another snoozer. Most every song is the same tempo and there's not enough variation to cover for that. When the songwriting kicks ass bands can get away with everything sounding the same, but few of these songs are at all memorable. (5/10)
Running time - 37:24, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: 1234, Waves Roll Into Boston]
Initial Records - http://www.initialrecords.com

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