Here's some decent emo/indie rock with raspy singing vocals from Florida. It's not bad, but it lacks a certain degree of energy and catchiness that I'm always after when it comes to this stuff. The music ranges from semi-poppy (in a loosely pop punk kind of way) and upbeat to more laidback, but always melodic. But the songs are definitely too long and a tad on the slow side. Most of the material runs more than four minutes, and things drag on after awhile. If they sped up the tempos on occasion and/or hacked off a minute or so from a few of the songs they'd probably keep things moving more efficiently. I like the vocals, though. I like singers who can actually sing even though they have dry, raspy voices. A couple of songs feature backup vocals from that dude who sings for Poison the Well, but I don't really give a flying fuck about that, so... who cares? In a way this band reminds me of a more upbeat and straightforward Jawbreaker, but obviously Jawbreaker is far superior, so such a comparison is to be taken lightly. A really inconsistent recording is another setback. Almost every song sounds slightly different, and not in an intentional way. The guitar tone is pretty weak, obviously it's not heavy, and it shouldn't be, but it's too ragged; there's not enough density (most of the time, sometimes the bass is so loud it gets muddy); the drums and vocals usually rest behind the guitars (which tend to be a bit loud); and the drums sound natural but sometimes seem to overload the input volume levels. I'd definitely recommend making sure the mix remains clear and consistent in the future, if not fuller and smoother across the board. The layout's not half bad. The text is rather plain, but I like the imagery. The colors are consistent, the artwork is somewhat abstract but still very recognizable, it's nice and clean, etc. There's one band photo, a few panels of art, and then the center spread includes all of the lyrics and some band info. The entire booklet uses the word "your" instead of "you're", which is annoying, but shit happens I guess. The lyrics don't do that much for me, revolving around fairly typical personal topics... "Hands are tied, can't reach out, you stand before me don't turn around, it's like spitting in my face, I can't keep up I lost the race. Choices said and done, and now I'm not anyone." This is okay, it's just not that memorable. I could see myself really getting into this if it had a polished sound or something, but... this is just a decent CD that doesn't make me feel the need for repeated listens.
[Lotus]
Running time - 42:00, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Autumn, Suicide]
32forty - http://www.feastofhateandfear.com/32forty/home.html
