When it comes to bands I'm not familiar with but am going to review, The Swellers don't necessarily come to mind, but they fit the bill. All I know about The Swellers is they are a punk-ish band who has a new CD, and I suppose that's all I need to know to do a review.
The album cover appropriately featuring neither a door nor light under it.
I'm already two margaritas down, so if I am to maintain any coherency, we should begin. On to the review!
Album:
Alcohol:
Margaritas featuring 1800 Silver Tequila
Opening the disc is "Should" with guitar and vocals. The track settles into a pretty standard pop punk feel. Somewhat generic, but the little pre-chorus bit is kind of cool. Octave chord solo. This does kind of feel like a cookie-cutter pop-punk song, and I should know, I was in a cookie-cutter pop-punk band!
"Big Hearts" carrys on the feel in the intro, but the verse drop out is kind of cool, and I dig that it adds on as it oves a long. Fun and bouncy but still VERY generic. I like it, but not enough to praise it. That little slow down/fallaprat thing was cool. Feeling drunk already... This could be bad. The symbol swelling part into the last chorus was pretty cool. Neat ending, I guess.
"Got Social"opens again with voice and vocals. Cigarette reference. Must smoke. Yeah, I'm an addict. As for the song, meh. Pop punk again. Think of any heartfelt but up beat pop punk tune, and you are probably hearing this one. And on that note, let'smake a sloppy blog worse with a TEQUILA shot! =) Ouch. Drop out before the final chorus. Still not wowed.
Slow heavy opening to "High/Low" cool progression in the drudging verse. Into a slightly less drudging chorus. The harmonies in the lead during the post chorus interlude is the coolest thing I've heard thus far on this disc. Neat ending.
Ooo... Getting me more into it with the fast paced "Great Lakes State". NOthing special, but considerable more fun coming out of that last tune. But meh, the energy drops going into the pre-chorus, but it picks back up for the chorus, and this is probably my high point on the album thus far. And that's not saying a lot when I'm pretty sure I've heard all of these songs before from better bands. Cool-ish ending.
Into the fake out slow sstart of "Becoming Self-Aware_. Cool tune, but still waiting for something to et this disc apart from, well, anything. This song is reminicent of a less good Rise Against. And I think it's the cooll use of that awesome punk beat. Props to their drummer for trying his damnedest to make up for the over-the-top generic guitars. This, like many of the track preceding has a lot going for it, but nothing significant.
"Friends Again (We Can't Be)" is another track that falls in line with the idea that this is a good track, but not stellar. Ugh. That drop out with the vocal distortion is far too over done. Guitarist stretching his fingers. Not bad. Another cool symbol swell part again. To be honest, I can't like this album (Sung in parody).
Heavier tune in "Designated Driver". Aw... A spmg about waking up alone. How... Done before. Better. Seriously, you know how some songs will haunt you when you hear them because you feel like you know them, but can't be sure and can't place them? Yeah, listen to a string of 10 of those songs instead of this album. Time for another shot because excitment stimulus is needed.
"Favorite Tune" is a poor nme for this track. And Ill bee onedst missed half of the song trying to take that shot. And yeah. I think I've stopped caring. I like the tone of the guitar in that solo, but meh to the solo.
Okay. Last track. Wow me? Nope. Settling into anohter haeart felt pop-punk track. It's like they wer trying to make an album of radio hits for the early 2000s but forgot to put in significant hooks. Seriously as a fan of pop-punk when you release an album like this and manage to miss the mark on almost the entirety of it, you need to do something else. For instance, I sucked at writing music, so I found work in a factory, and now, write reviews like I have a significant voice on music (the alcohol works to convice me, but probably not you). The album ends. And I'm okay with that.
Final Thoughts:
The tequila may have made me bitter about my own short comings in the pop-punk scene, but I really think this album is boring and generic, but everything I said preceding this probably already told you that. However, if generic pop-punk is your thing, and you don't mind rehashings of everything you've heard before, go ahead and get this one. It's not that it's bad. It just... Isn't good.
Tell me why I''m wrong in the comments, or foloow because I'm not. Or do both to be really cool.
-Badhorse
I saw these guys live once and I thought they were stupid then. Glad to know someone else thinks they are garbage.
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