When Geffen took up the option of signing Finch from Drive Thru, they probably expected the band to write a swift follow up to the smash ‘What It Is To Burn’, a CD that arguably spawned a genre that has since spiralled out of control. What they probably didn’t expect was the band to ditch their long-term drummer, then write a batch of songs, ditch them and write a batch more, while all the time slagging off their first album for creating a style of music they cannot bear to listen to. Finch even stopped playing several songs off their debut album because they hate them. To the uninitiated, ‘Say Hello To Sunshine‘ paramounts as career suicide. Even though this isn’t exactly un-commercial, it’s far less accessible than the album that made them famous and I’d be surprised if sales are strong enough for the major label to keep interested. Maybe that’s the band’s point – after all, they’ve been incredibly vocal that they never wanted to go to a major and this album is perhaps as un-major like as you could get. It’s still good though – very good infact, although in a different way.
‘Say Hello To Sunshine‘ is very different from its predecessor. It’s an album that will alienate the fans that just liked the band for songs like ‘Letters To You’ – after all, there are hardly any choruses on this record. It’s a two-fingered salute to the men in suits who, I’m sure, probably asked the band to come up with radio singles galore. Truth be told, there aren’t any. And that’s why this record will, I’m sure, be a commercial flop. In times when My Chemical Romance and Green Day are as likely to be on TRL than Briteny Spears, I can’t see Geffen sticking to a band that have deliberately shunned the scene that made them famous. Still, it makes for a very interesting album; a record that is varied and perhaps shows the band in a more honest light. From the opening strike of ‘Insomniatic Meat’ and ‘Revelation Song’, the band showcase more of a Faith No More-meets-Glassjaw vibe. Nate’s vocals are more varied, the riffs darker and heavier and the drums are far, far superior. ‘The Casket of Roderick Usher’ is, plain and simple, fucking insane.
‘Brother Bleed Brother’ is perhaps one of the only songs that could pass as a “single”, with a more traditional song structure that resembles the Finch of old. Randy‘s guitar playing is more metal than previously and this actually works well when Nate screams and shouts as he does on songs like ‘A Piece of Mind’ or ‘Ink‘. The latter was released as a demo a while before the album and I didn’t like it at all, but this version certainly hits the spot. The former really sounds like Daryl Palumbo too; there’s a spite in the vocals which sounds like Daryl circa ‘Worship and Tribute’. If I was to be critical of this record, the middle four songs do come across as being on the dull side. ‘Hopeless Host’ doesn’t really seem to go very far, while ‘Bitemarks and Bloodstains’ takes the experimental side a little too far.
Many of those who liked ‘What It Is To Burn’ won’t like this album because it’s very different, but that’s exactly why I do like it. There are weaker songs here and on the UK release 15 tracks is a couple too many, but Finch have opted to stray from the soundalike bands that have ripped them off over the three years that elapsed between releases and this is a good thing. The band have stretched themselves musically and it works well at times, although some more than others. Discount the rather dull middle section and you’ve got an interesting and varied record which showcases a band willing to try something different – and that has to surely be better than re-hashing a sound that made you famous? After all, we have hundreds of bands that do that already…
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Paul