Chris Fallon
09/05/08, 07:06 PM
Negative Space - Storylines
Record Label: Unsigned
Release Date: April 22, 2008
Who?
Four-piece alternative rock band from Pennsylvania who have a flurry of influences from all genres ... but lack a clear identity that helps makes them stick out to anyone in particular.
How is it?
When a band states they sound like, "Our fist colliding with your ass repeatedly," it might sound more like a good old-fashioned prison shanking rather than a pleasant offering of music. While Negative Space aren't as punishing as a prison beatdown-slash-rape, they don't quite live up to the promise of such a brutal 'rock-stitution.' Vocalist Josh Nice is somewhere between Anthony Green (Circa Survive) and Benjamin Burnley (Breaking Benjamin), and that alone is a problem: the band never knows where to draw the line in the sand when it comes to their style. They go from hard rock in the vein of Seether & Three Days Grace to emo-rock like Anberlin & Dashboard Confessional, never finding the right leg to stand on.
Perhaps because their influences list everybody from NOFX to Helmet to Relient K to even Huey Lewis & The News does Negative Space have difficulty finding a good home to roost their songwriting heads in. Opening cut, "Diaries," is a soaring number; "Honestly" is like a diet-Circa Survive track; and "Lights Out" is something out of Anberlin's songbook. However, the album slips into radio rock territory with "Falling," a Hinder-like ballad that trickles its way along; "In Sickness and In Wealth" is just another "fist-pumping" rock anthem that swells with cliches; and "Fairweather" sounds like a lost track from (again) Breaking Benjamin's last disc. The focus is far too much on Nice's vocals, and not enough on the rest of the band, who need to find their niche and build a foundation for the band to succeed.
Breaking Benjamin; Anthony Green if he were in Buckcherry; the inability to decide what genre you like; prison films."Diaries," "Lights Out" and "Honestly"
1. Diaries
2. Fairweather
3. Honestly
4. Ashes
5. The Right Take
6. In Sickness and In Wealth
7. Falling
8. Lights Out
9. Need
10. White House
11. Almost
12. We Are
13. AbigailJosh Nice: vocals
Rick Lienhard: guitar/vocals
Britain Roda: guitar
Mark Reinmiller: bass
Jimmy Everly: drums
Official Site (http://www.negativespacerocks.com) | Official Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/negativespace)Amazon MP3 (http://www.amazon.com/Storylines/dp/B00198N3RE)
Record Label: Unsigned
Release Date: April 22, 2008
Who?
Four-piece alternative rock band from Pennsylvania who have a flurry of influences from all genres ... but lack a clear identity that helps makes them stick out to anyone in particular.
How is it?
When a band states they sound like, "Our fist colliding with your ass repeatedly," it might sound more like a good old-fashioned prison shanking rather than a pleasant offering of music. While Negative Space aren't as punishing as a prison beatdown-slash-rape, they don't quite live up to the promise of such a brutal 'rock-stitution.' Vocalist Josh Nice is somewhere between Anthony Green (Circa Survive) and Benjamin Burnley (Breaking Benjamin), and that alone is a problem: the band never knows where to draw the line in the sand when it comes to their style. They go from hard rock in the vein of Seether & Three Days Grace to emo-rock like Anberlin & Dashboard Confessional, never finding the right leg to stand on.
Perhaps because their influences list everybody from NOFX to Helmet to Relient K to even Huey Lewis & The News does Negative Space have difficulty finding a good home to roost their songwriting heads in. Opening cut, "Diaries," is a soaring number; "Honestly" is like a diet-Circa Survive track; and "Lights Out" is something out of Anberlin's songbook. However, the album slips into radio rock territory with "Falling," a Hinder-like ballad that trickles its way along; "In Sickness and In Wealth" is just another "fist-pumping" rock anthem that swells with cliches; and "Fairweather" sounds like a lost track from (again) Breaking Benjamin's last disc. The focus is far too much on Nice's vocals, and not enough on the rest of the band, who need to find their niche and build a foundation for the band to succeed.
Breaking Benjamin; Anthony Green if he were in Buckcherry; the inability to decide what genre you like; prison films."Diaries," "Lights Out" and "Honestly"
1. Diaries
2. Fairweather
3. Honestly
4. Ashes
5. The Right Take
6. In Sickness and In Wealth
7. Falling
8. Lights Out
9. Need
10. White House
11. Almost
12. We Are
13. AbigailJosh Nice: vocals
Rick Lienhard: guitar/vocals
Britain Roda: guitar
Mark Reinmiller: bass
Jimmy Everly: drums
Official Site (http://www.negativespacerocks.com) | Official Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/negativespace)Amazon MP3 (http://www.amazon.com/Storylines/dp/B00198N3RE)