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Evans Blue - The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume
- Canadian hard-core rock quintet Evans Blue hit the stores next week with their debut album, The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume.
I'll say right off that this isn't my favorite CD of the year so far. In terms of originality and song structure, their progenitors Hoobastank, Fuel, and... Sarah McLachlan... have already done it cleaner and better. Noise quantity, or "the energetic nature of volume," is not a substitute for quality and there are unfortunately too many bands that do not share this ideology.
Yet I suspect they already know this which is what confuses me, as they cover Ms. McLachlan's "Possession," an already intense and heartbreaking track already over a decade old. In their interpretation however, they prog rock the hell out of the simplicity of it and go full bore, blowing right past the song's innate effectiveness. The power and fearfulness of that song, besides the darkness of the music itself, was its simplicity--its ability to deliver its power without batting you over the head with it.
I hope I'm not sounding like a person who's growing too old to understand "this type of music," because I'd like to think that however old I get, whether it be 25, 45, or 95, I'll be able to appreciate music of any genre as long as the quality and commitment is there.
This is not to say that these guys aren't committed. It's merely a misdirected commitment, and part of the blame for that has to fall on the producer who should have spoken up a bit more about balances and plain ol' musicianship. There is a lot of energy on this record as evidenced by the first single, "Cold (But I'm Still Here)." Lead singer Matisyn reminds me very obviously of Fuel's Brett Scallions from back in the "Hemorrhage" days, when Fuel was still coming up and didn't have their platinum prestige yet. They had the obvious hunger to be successful. They looked the part, sounded the part, and pierced the part, as do the guys of Evans Blue. But they don't do it as well.
Matisyn breaths heavily between wails just so we know he's intense, and he's resorting to vocal tics that lesser voices employ to cover their ineptitude. This is disappointing because I'm pretty sure this guy actually can carry a song without the vocal gesticulations, and he'd be more effective at it as a result. The rest of the five play well enough for the material they're presenting and have enough energy to make me believe that these guys put on a great live show.
Unfortunately, if you're not a misunderstood angry snowboarding metal thrasher, this music may be lost on you if you have only the CD to go on.
Reviewer: David Fallo
new
Reviewer's Rating: 7
Reader's Rating: 10.00
Reader's Votes: 2
Added: 17-Feb-2006
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