When I first heard ‘Letters To You’ way back last year on Finch‘s debut EP ‘Falling Into Place’, I was completely blown away. Anyone who knows me knows that I love this band. I’ve been awaiting this, their first full-length record, ever since my ears fell in love with that song and let me say that I’m not disappointed. In fact I would go as far as saying that this is the best album of 2002 so far…
Drive Thru Records have this unfair stigma attached to them branding all of their bands Blink 182 wannabes. To me this is vastly unfair and the label itself seems to have made moves to rid itself of this tag. Finch were one of the new bands the label signed last year that are nothing like Blink 182 (see Something Corporate as another example). Mixing Deftones style metal and fusing it with Jimmy Eat World-esque emo is pretty adventurous and it would be very easy for the whole thing to fall flat on its face. Then chuck New Found Glory into the mix just for kicks. Thankfully, ‘What It Is To Burn’ is an absolute classic.
The aptly titled ‘New Beginnings’ sets things off in fine style. It’s not hardcore per se, more of a pop-hardcore. You cannot fit Finch into any genre, they fuse elements of so many styles into their own mix and the results are mind blowing. They do have that Drive Thru sheen, and the Mark Trombino production has certainly given them a leg up. But if you don’t have the songs then you’ll get nowhere. The opening track is melodic, heavy and is dripping with emotion. This is a band that not only wears its heart on its sleeve, but puts 110% into every single song.
‘Letters To You’ was by far the best song released last year. Mark Trombino made the band re-record it for this album and a video has since been made as it will be released as a single. It’s as open lyrically as you will ever get, coming straight out of the Kris Roe school of songwriting. Yet there is still room for the odd scream in amongst the melody, of which this song has by the bucketload. ‘Post Script’ is the third track, and again it fuses different elements succesfully. Singer Nate Barcalow can switch between screaming and singing at the drop of a hat, one minute spitting blood, the next crooning as well as any emo singer you can name.
The Glassjaw influence is obvious with Finch, and Daryl Palumbo pops up with guest vocals on the fantastic ‘Grey Matter’. The two trade vocals with Daryl’s unmistakeable screams working perfectly in tandem with Nate’s more considered vocals. And it maintains a pop element with a singalong chorus. ‘Perfection Through Silence‘ featured on the EP, but again has been re-recorded and the two guitars sound immense. Again, a big thumbs up to the production of Mark Trombino. Does everything this guy touches turn to gold? I think so…
‘Awake’ is one of the weaker tracks, mainly because it takes a long time to kick in. It’s not a bad song by any means, just not quite as good as the others. Especially when you put it in the company of tracks like ‘Without You Here’ which provide the emo edge that sets this band apart from the shitty nu-metal boy bands that grace MTV. Nate softly sings at the beginning before exploding into the chorus. The backing harmonies are amazing and emotion literally pours out of the speakers. A definite highlight. ‘Stay With Me’ is another classic, literally a hard-edged pop song. What goes in Finch‘s favour is that they have something in their sound that caters for everyone.
Daryl Palumbo returns on the manic ‘Project Mayhem’, which again sees the two frontmen trading vocals in style. And the screams and punishing basslines really hit home hard. This is brilliant hardcore and works well alongside the more poppier efforts. Sliding straight into ‘Untitled’, yet another hit song in the making, is another masterstroke. Again the band fuse a chorus catchier than syphillis with a wall of sound. And they’re not afraid to mix things up within songs either. Nate can sing, so mixing screams with singing fits perfectly.
‘Three Simple Words’ is superb. It’s possibly the most straight-up pop-punk song here, but don’t let that blight your opinion. The emo influences really shine through. And then there is ‘Ender’, which goes on and on and on and on… It’s a pity really, because it wreaks of the Deftones closing track from ‘The White Pony’. It’s an ok song, but maybe the weakest. At over ten minutes in total, it is perhaps overly ambitious. Then, just for the lucky people who got a limited edition copy of the cd, there’s the bonus track of ‘What It Is To Burn’. There’s even a cello in here at the beginning, but as with the rest of this album, it is fantastic. Sounds a bit Deftonesy I know, but it rocks, plain and simple.
Finch are to play the Warped Tour this summer. They WILL blow everyone off the stage and if there is any justice they will be huge this time next year. Get this now before they blow up real big, because it is going to take an amazing release to beat this in the end of year polls…
Paul Savage