Well, this is a lot better than the last record I heard from these guys, which I thought was pretty much total crap. Now, that's not to say that I think this is a fantastic record by any means, but it is a very large step forward for the band as far as production quality and overall presentation goes. Musically it's basically rocked out emo with a pop punk sort of vibe, but it's too slow and sort of moody to be pop punk. The biggest problem is that the vocals are just too monotonous and lack any real emotion. Since the music isn't exactly catchy and can lack energy as well, the combination of the two sort of holds them back. In fact, that's what this sounds like: A band holding back. I know these guys could do better than this if they worked at it, but it seems like they're stuck in a rut where they write songs that sound similar to one another and are all based around similar structures and tempos. The writing is just too moderately paced for their style, and as a result the songs end up feeling a lot longer than they are. If they'd play faster it would make an enormous difference. Granted some of the softer material obviously needs to be slow, but there are no dynamics as far as tempo changes whatsoever. Things open up a bit with vocal harmonies and more diverse musicianship in songs like "Friday Night Support Group", but such songs are few and far between. The recording works. It's a little bit flat, there's not enough brightness to the treble end of things. But the mix is even, and it sounds a shitload better than last time. The drums sound right on, I can hear the bass, the vocals are mixed barely in front of the guitars, and the distortion is somewhat light without sounding out of place. The layout's okay, but I hate the band photos (cheesy) and I don't like the font used for the song/album titles at all. Everything else pieces together very well, the colors, the style of the imagery, etc. But those two aspects really hurt the overall presentation. The lyrics? Well... it's nothing you haven't heard before, and I can't say I get into the content here. "If writing these words and singing these songs would make days like these go away, would I bother to write this way? Why can't you save me with bad poetry, It's left no one guessing, I'm guessing you won't save me, You'd think I'd learned to lose, Run rather than choose, I know I'd need the pain that way, And I need to be told today." Not bad, but boring. That's the bottom line. This is a very boring record that could be exponentially better if they work harder. The songs aren't bad, they're just missing something.
[Uprising]
Running time - 36:32, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Friday Night Support Group, Sad Bastard Music]
Uprising Records - http://www.uprisingrecords.com
