When I first listened to this EP I thought it was some sick joke and someone had pressed a My Favourite Co-Pilot song onto the CD. I really did think I was listening to MFCP. “Open Arms” has a massive Thursday / Taking Back Sunday influence that isn’t hard to notice, considering it’s the title track of the EP you’d think it would have set the tone for what was to come. Not this time..
“Open Arms” is followed by a more melodic punk number called “Fall Asleep”, nothing special, but it works quite well I suppose. The next track “Lessons” takes a totally different direction. It sounds like Belvedere covering a Saves The Day track. Fast drums, powerful breakdown, but with “pretty-boy” vocals.
“October” starts with a Reggie and The Full Effect style synth-line, but the melody sounds just like an Ataris Song off End Is Forever. “Badly Oiled Machine” and “So Long” are pretty much more of the same, melodic punk tracks sounding like songs that would slot into the Drive-Thru back catalogue perfectly. These guys should basically be on Drive-Thru or on tour supporting The Starting Line The record ends on an acoustic number which works well, but it’s the same old complaint from me..
These guys are good musicians, the music is technical and the EP is well recorded but I really do not like the vocals, and what’s the deal with the American accent? I see what the vocals are trying to achieve but they don’t quite seem to hit the spot for me. Shame really, as musically that’s all that is letting it down.
Now, if this record had stayed consistent it wouldn’t have been so bad. You could argue that eclectic material is a good thing to have, but when there are a few songs that feel like they were written with a different direction in mind the whole record starts to feel dis-jointed, uncomfortable and in summary, forced.
If you like Drive Thru and the whole New Jersey / Long Island scene you’ll probably lap this up. I’m not personally convinced though. It just feels like they used to be a pop-punk band and now they’ve adopted screaming and a nu-emo post-hardcore, whatever you’d like to call it, direction. Where have we heard that before?
Phil