Weird. This looked like it was gonna be an emo disc, but it's not even close. It's weird "aternative metal" with female singing, and I'm not really into it. The singing is actually pretty damn good, I think the vocals are one of the strong points, but the music feels like it's restraining her singing, partly because of the way things are recorded and mixed, but also because the songs really aren't that dynamic, so she doesn't seem to have many opportunities to really belt it out and break into harmonies and stuff. And that's not to say the recording's bad, it's not. It's pretty good. It does, however, need work. The acoustic guitars in songs like "Everyone's Crime" sound amazing, and things are generally clear. The percussion is nice and dense as well, and the bass plays a decent role. I just think the mix needs to be louder and fuller. There's a pretty big gap between the vocals and the instruments, and that space causes even the strongest moments to fall a little flat. The vocals also seem to have some sort of light filter over them to add a little warmth, but whatever's going on the singing ends up having a little too much midrange, so some of its character gets lost underneath it all. So, really they just need to get a more cohesive sound that tweaks the tones for maximum efficiency. Really it's the songwriting that I'm having the hardest time with, because it's just boring. The tempos are often too slow, they rely too heavily on quieter laidback passages that don't contrast enough with the buildups, etc. Some of the stuff has a weird sort of Jane's Addiction meets Faith No More thing happening musically, which could be interesting, but again, there's just no damn energy. It's so lifeless and bland. The electronic presence is generally wasteful as well. Sometimes when the synths are keeping it simple as backing texture it's fine, but a lot of times they just don't fit, and in regards to the mix's cohesiveness the electronic layers are definitely the only real clutter that exists. The layout's alright, but I'm not too into it. Parts of it aren't that bad, but the color scheme is dull, and the superimposed image of the happy couple floating on pool rafts in a murky industrial river or something just looks like crap. At least the text is legible and clean, though. The lyrics deal with relationships and such, and they're alright. I think that some of the rhyming is a little forced and awkward, but I've seen worse. The packaging would actually be fine sans the aforementioned photo and with a more vibrant sense of color/image quality. But anyway, I don't know what else to say here. I'm surprised by how weak the songwriting is. It almost sounds like the band is just half-assing it and thus the singing isn't full force because it's trying to work against powerless compositions. I'd say the vocalist needs to either get with a similar but far more capable band who can write songs that possess some sort of punch, or opt for music that's far more stripped down and totally laidback. Because the rocked out stuff sounds out of place here, and the laidback moments don't really hit an emotional level, so it ends up coming off as a jumble of influences that never get a chance to develop properly.
[self-released]
Running time - 38:37, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: none of 'em really do anything for me]
Smear Campaign - http://www.smear-campaign.com
