Darren McLeod
03/31/06, 12:49 PM
Love Equals Death - Nightmerica
Release Date: March 21, 2006
Record Label: Fat Wreck Chords
This, my friends, is a crisis of identity laid out before us. Yes, few bands have exhibited such a lack of agreement in attempted sound on one disc. Love Equals Death, a recent signing from Fat Wreck Chords, show a great amount of potential and talent on their debut album, Nightmerica, yet fail to meet said potential in an absence of creativity and unity.
The first piece of evidence that the listener has of this album being a bit of a rehashing is the artwork. You'll no doubt notice the band name is Love Equals Death, and then you'll see that the art features a zombie-like girl in muted blue and black tones. Inside, you'll find what were no doubt thought of as "haunting" photographs of band members, which come off as laughable in their execution. You will no doubt be expecting some sort of eyeliner-wearing metalcore-wannabe band, and so even before a listen, the album is off to a bad start.
However, once you actually get into listening to the disc, you'll see that it isn't as terrible as first appearances had let on, and you might even be pleasantly surprised by the opener. It opens with "Bombs Over Brooklyn," a strong and catchy track that indicates what is, for the majority of the album, the sound of Love Equals Death: they play upbeat punk with a splash of melodic hardcore, not at all unlike the earlier years of AFI. In fact, vocalist Chon Travis manages to sound quite similar to Davey Havoc, which is fitting for the sound they project -- a sound which is too varied and undecided for its own good.
On many songs, the band manages to hit its pseudo-AFI style, like the opening two tracks, the aforementioned "Bombs Over Brooklyn" and "When We Fall." Yet, when you reach the third track, you hear an all too obvious modern Alkaline Trio influence in "The Lottery," a catchy track no doubt, yet one that does not seem to fit the preset rhythm of the album. One of the main problems is that this is not the exception to the rule at all -- out of place tracks happen all the time: on the sixth track, "Voice of Change," Chon sounds like he's imitating Brendan Kelly of The Lawrence Arms during his verses; track seven, "The Broadcast," has an all-too-familiar excerpt from a George W. Bush speech; on "Caught In A Trap," the band sounds like they're a NOFX tribute band; the final track, the acoustic "Truth Has Failed," sounds like a Matt Skiba b-side. That's not to say the songs are poorly written or not fun to listen to, because as standalone tracks they are quite enjoyable, yet they do not manage to mesh together as an album. Variety is not a dilemma for Love Equals Death, unity is.
The primary problem of Nightmerica isn't that it does anything particularly terrible, its simply wearing its influences on its proverbial sleeve through its entirety. The lyrics are never terribly insightful, but rather are cookie-cutter tales of political dread and heartbreak that have been done before, and done better. It is a good first effort, but the band needs to spend more time together to determine a precise sound that defines them, rather than continuing to define themselves by their influences.
Alkaline Trio, AFI.
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Band Website: http://www.loveequalsdeath.com
Band MP3s: http://www.purevolume.com/loveequalsdeath
Release Date: March 21, 2006
Record Label: Fat Wreck Chords
This, my friends, is a crisis of identity laid out before us. Yes, few bands have exhibited such a lack of agreement in attempted sound on one disc. Love Equals Death, a recent signing from Fat Wreck Chords, show a great amount of potential and talent on their debut album, Nightmerica, yet fail to meet said potential in an absence of creativity and unity.
The first piece of evidence that the listener has of this album being a bit of a rehashing is the artwork. You'll no doubt notice the band name is Love Equals Death, and then you'll see that the art features a zombie-like girl in muted blue and black tones. Inside, you'll find what were no doubt thought of as "haunting" photographs of band members, which come off as laughable in their execution. You will no doubt be expecting some sort of eyeliner-wearing metalcore-wannabe band, and so even before a listen, the album is off to a bad start.
However, once you actually get into listening to the disc, you'll see that it isn't as terrible as first appearances had let on, and you might even be pleasantly surprised by the opener. It opens with "Bombs Over Brooklyn," a strong and catchy track that indicates what is, for the majority of the album, the sound of Love Equals Death: they play upbeat punk with a splash of melodic hardcore, not at all unlike the earlier years of AFI. In fact, vocalist Chon Travis manages to sound quite similar to Davey Havoc, which is fitting for the sound they project -- a sound which is too varied and undecided for its own good.
On many songs, the band manages to hit its pseudo-AFI style, like the opening two tracks, the aforementioned "Bombs Over Brooklyn" and "When We Fall." Yet, when you reach the third track, you hear an all too obvious modern Alkaline Trio influence in "The Lottery," a catchy track no doubt, yet one that does not seem to fit the preset rhythm of the album. One of the main problems is that this is not the exception to the rule at all -- out of place tracks happen all the time: on the sixth track, "Voice of Change," Chon sounds like he's imitating Brendan Kelly of The Lawrence Arms during his verses; track seven, "The Broadcast," has an all-too-familiar excerpt from a George W. Bush speech; on "Caught In A Trap," the band sounds like they're a NOFX tribute band; the final track, the acoustic "Truth Has Failed," sounds like a Matt Skiba b-side. That's not to say the songs are poorly written or not fun to listen to, because as standalone tracks they are quite enjoyable, yet they do not manage to mesh together as an album. Variety is not a dilemma for Love Equals Death, unity is.
The primary problem of Nightmerica isn't that it does anything particularly terrible, its simply wearing its influences on its proverbial sleeve through its entirety. The lyrics are never terribly insightful, but rather are cookie-cutter tales of political dread and heartbreak that have been done before, and done better. It is a good first effort, but the band needs to spend more time together to determine a precise sound that defines them, rather than continuing to define themselves by their influences.
Alkaline Trio, AFI.
---
Band Website: http://www.loveequalsdeath.com
Band MP3s: http://www.purevolume.com/loveequalsdeath