Chris Fallon
07/23/08, 01:08 AM
A Coastline Ending - In The Name of Progression...
Record Label: Not Alone Records
Release Date: July 15, 2008
In The Name of Progression... is quite a ballsy title to slap across your debut album, especially when you claim your band is “for fans of Saosin and Scary Kids Scaring Kids,” two bands not making incredibly large strides in the creative circuit when it comes to rock music. However, six-piece Connecticut outfit A Coastline Ending does have the confidence to bolster such an intriguing album title, even if it fails to live up to such potential.
Producer Chris Badami (The Early November, The Starting Line) establishes the band’s multi-layered sound by emphasizing Aaron Meadows’ vocals, which lie somewhere in between Stephan Christian’s (Anberlin) and Aaron Gillespie (The Almost/Underoath). Meadows has a voice that promises big things on most tracks but don’t always quite deliver in spots where it promises to soar (“Breakdown”), and it can be troublesome as his voice is the centerpiece of the album. Even though A Coastline Ending are striving to be creating emotive alt-pop like Circa Survive and Anberlin, it can sometimes be rather distracting (see: “First Impression”) and Meadows seems as if he is trying all too hard to be Saosin vocalist Cove Reber (the acoustic misstep “So Many Faces”).
When the band lays off the synthesizers, they sound their best. With the guitars turned way up and the background noise left to a minimum, the songs breathe a life of their own and sound fantastic (“Subconscious Walls”). Guitarist Matt Schaff provides plenty of ample shredding on select tracks to take focus away from Meadows’ vocals and the more obnoxious keyboard parts that simply take away from a promising debut. Schaff, however, is not the best counterpart for Meadows’ pipes, and when the two compete in dual vocal matches, it sounds like outtakes from the Rocky Horror Picture Show (“Face the Music”).
To call A Coastline Ending progressive would be a bit much; it’s far too easy to get distracted by the fact they are imitating better bands (“Acrobat” sounds like a Circa Survive b-side with new vocals). Meadows is confident and not a terrible vocalist, however, he appears to be reaching for something he can’t fully give his listeners (again, “Acrobat” showcases he indeed has limits). The keyboards are also too much - with six musicians here, all providing something, it’s too easy to have the sound become messy and diverts attention away from everything else at play.
So perhaps, in the name of progression, A Coastline Ending should take a step back and reexamine where they want to take their sound. It simply appears as if there is too much the band is going for and is unable to attain, no matter how much conviction they exude. For a debut album, maybe they should have grounded themselves just a tad and worked on progression the next time around.
Saosin, Circa Survive (without Anthony Green) and The Almost"Breakdown," "Subconscious Walls" and "Brave the Tide"
1. Made By Machine
2. Breakdown
3. First Impression
4. Subconscious Walls
5. Face the Music
6. So Many Faces
7. Brave the Tide
8. Acrobat
9. In The Name of Progression...
10. On Sacred WingsAaron Meadows - lead vocals
Matt Schaff - guitar/vocals
Kyle Ernst - bass
LJ Bunker - drums
Brian Hadsell - guitar
Cyrus Thomas-Walker - keyboards
Official Site (http://www.acoastlineending.com) | Official Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/acoastlineending)SmartPunk (http://www.smartpunk.com/product.php?item_id=27869)
Record Label: Not Alone Records
Release Date: July 15, 2008
In The Name of Progression... is quite a ballsy title to slap across your debut album, especially when you claim your band is “for fans of Saosin and Scary Kids Scaring Kids,” two bands not making incredibly large strides in the creative circuit when it comes to rock music. However, six-piece Connecticut outfit A Coastline Ending does have the confidence to bolster such an intriguing album title, even if it fails to live up to such potential.
Producer Chris Badami (The Early November, The Starting Line) establishes the band’s multi-layered sound by emphasizing Aaron Meadows’ vocals, which lie somewhere in between Stephan Christian’s (Anberlin) and Aaron Gillespie (The Almost/Underoath). Meadows has a voice that promises big things on most tracks but don’t always quite deliver in spots where it promises to soar (“Breakdown”), and it can be troublesome as his voice is the centerpiece of the album. Even though A Coastline Ending are striving to be creating emotive alt-pop like Circa Survive and Anberlin, it can sometimes be rather distracting (see: “First Impression”) and Meadows seems as if he is trying all too hard to be Saosin vocalist Cove Reber (the acoustic misstep “So Many Faces”).
When the band lays off the synthesizers, they sound their best. With the guitars turned way up and the background noise left to a minimum, the songs breathe a life of their own and sound fantastic (“Subconscious Walls”). Guitarist Matt Schaff provides plenty of ample shredding on select tracks to take focus away from Meadows’ vocals and the more obnoxious keyboard parts that simply take away from a promising debut. Schaff, however, is not the best counterpart for Meadows’ pipes, and when the two compete in dual vocal matches, it sounds like outtakes from the Rocky Horror Picture Show (“Face the Music”).
To call A Coastline Ending progressive would be a bit much; it’s far too easy to get distracted by the fact they are imitating better bands (“Acrobat” sounds like a Circa Survive b-side with new vocals). Meadows is confident and not a terrible vocalist, however, he appears to be reaching for something he can’t fully give his listeners (again, “Acrobat” showcases he indeed has limits). The keyboards are also too much - with six musicians here, all providing something, it’s too easy to have the sound become messy and diverts attention away from everything else at play.
So perhaps, in the name of progression, A Coastline Ending should take a step back and reexamine where they want to take their sound. It simply appears as if there is too much the band is going for and is unable to attain, no matter how much conviction they exude. For a debut album, maybe they should have grounded themselves just a tad and worked on progression the next time around.
Saosin, Circa Survive (without Anthony Green) and The Almost"Breakdown," "Subconscious Walls" and "Brave the Tide"
1. Made By Machine
2. Breakdown
3. First Impression
4. Subconscious Walls
5. Face the Music
6. So Many Faces
7. Brave the Tide
8. Acrobat
9. In The Name of Progression...
10. On Sacred WingsAaron Meadows - lead vocals
Matt Schaff - guitar/vocals
Kyle Ernst - bass
LJ Bunker - drums
Brian Hadsell - guitar
Cyrus Thomas-Walker - keyboards
Official Site (http://www.acoastlineending.com) | Official Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/acoastlineending)SmartPunk (http://www.smartpunk.com/product.php?item_id=27869)