Ah, it’s time for the monthly review of a band of my choice. Sure, the review is a little late this month, but I’ve had the band picked since sometime in the first week. I’m getting better. A couple more and I’ll have this done between the first and fourth every month. Assuming I can continue to find bands that I like until I give up maintaining this site. But that shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I like a lot of music. Oh yes, and I hope you’re enjoying this paragraph. Pure filler! Hahahaha! It’s just a clever ruse to make you believe this post is longer than it actually is! Well, I guess it’s onto the real stuff now then. Oh, and excuse any bad spelling, I’m typing in the dark and have no access to a spellchecker.
So here’s what I propose to you this month: I review a band, you read it and pretend you enjoyed it. Simple, no? If you hadn’t clicked the album cover on the sidebar, this month’s band is Story of the Year. I originally caught wind of them when they were the main attraction for the Nintendo Fusion Tour back in September/October. While I ne’er got to attend the show, I looked up a couple songs from each of the bands, and aside from Lostprophets and My Chemical Romance (whom I already liked), SotY was clearly the best of the featured bands. So I listened to a couple songs and then I bought the CD. Totally a worthwile buy. While most of the NFT promotional stuff called them emo, I’d say they’re a regular punk rock band. The sound is rocking, not whiny. The lyrics are close to emo, but whatever. It don’t really matter what genre they’re classified as, they’re a good band either way.
They’re a new group, so they’ve only got the one CD, Page Avenue. It’s an excellent album, and easily recommendable to anyone who can enjoy a fine mix of fast rock and slightly slower rock. While there is a bit of screaming, it’s never annoying or off-putting (EX: Billy Talent) and is usually placed in key points of songs. I’m not really complaining, because I love drums, but the only real downside to the CD is that the guitars are kinda downplayed by the vocals and drums. Really, you might not even notice guitars on some songs unless you listen for them specifically.
The disc starts strong with a very hardcore “And the Hero Will Drown”. As I stated in the paragraph prior, a lot of drum influence in this one. Then come their two biggest and similarly titled hits, “Until the Day I Die” and “Anthem of Our Dying Day”. The second is slightly slower, but I feel is it the better of the two. After that is one of my two favorite songs on the CD; “In the Shadows”. Funny, because it’s probably the screamingest song on the album, and I’m not a fan of screamy music. I dunno exaclty what it is about the song that I like so much, but I think the pacing is good and again, the drumming is superb. My second favorite song is closer to the end, and is also the slowest on the disc; “Sidewalks”. It’s a nice acoustic-esque piece that is… touching, for the lack of a better word. I unno. I like slower rock songs. So sue me. Ooh, and it’s got violins in it. I like violins. The last song, “Falling Down” is quite good, and features guest vocals by Ray Cappo. I don’t know who he is, but he’s pretty good at that singing thing. Overall, it’s an A+ CD. At the very least, you owe it to yourself to download the thing, if you just can’t commit yourself to spending $20 on it. Easily worth it though.
The CD also features some cool CD-ROM bonuses, including two music videos and one kind of band overview video called “Fellowship of the Wang”. If that hasn’t convinced you to check it out, you’re a lost cause. The video is quite funny, with some great lines and band antics. The music videos are, well, music videos. I’ve never really liked music vids to begin with, and these are just run-of-the-mill punk videos, to tell the truth. Nothing special. And to top it all off, there is some slightly disturbing band tomfoolery as a “secret track” on the end of the CD. It’s funny, but not exactly, shall we say, sane.
And so another edition of Band of the Month comes to a close. I’m not sure what else to type, and it’s starting to feel awkward, so I’ll just close it here. Seeya next post, suckers.
ADDENDUM: While playing Resident Evil 4 the other day, my friend and I were talking about, well, exactly what the newest VG Cats comic is about, even stating that Scott would produce something exactly like what he did. Psychic powers? I think yes.