Evergreen Terrace – Almost Home
Release Date: September 29, 2009
Record Label: Metal Blade
You know that scene in that one Simpsons’ episode, the one where Bart and Lisa get pissed at each other and start flailing their arms and legs in open space while approaching each other? Yeah, that one scene summarizes Evergreen Terrace. The Jacksonville, Florida, quartet love their pop culture references, most obviously adopting the name of the street the Simpsons live on as their moniker. But while those references are cute, they don’t mean anything if the music doesn’t deliver. And with their second album for Metal Blade Records, titled “Almost Home,” Evergreen Terrace gives us another helping of their steady brand of melodic whatevercore.
While Almost Home is unspectacular in terms of band progression, Evergreen Terrace still can throw those knockout punches. “Enemy Sex” begins like a bulldozer, as vocalist Andrew Carey pummels through the track while a delicious breakdown from guitarists Craig Chaney and Josh James wets our palates. Tracks like “The Letdown” and “Failure to Operate” gives the album the right dosage of breakdowns, while “God Rocky, Is This Your Face?” is a nice change of pace track that completely thrashes your face off as drummer Kyle Mims provides the backbone.
Almost Home suffers into two areas: lyrics and melody. While the band is capable of balancing melody and metal into a killer track (see: “Hopelessly Hopeless”), there are tracks (such as “We’re Always Losing Blood”) that sound awkward and forced, as Carey is better off yowling than he is singing. Lyrically there is nothing to write home about; just your typical melodic post-hardcore/metal themes that some people still dig. But prime cuts such as “Mario Speedwagon” and “I’m A Bulletproof Tiger” help keep Almost Home from floating in obscurity.
If you dig bands like Walls of Jericho, Stick To Your Guns, and Comeback Kid, then Almost Home be just as appealing to you as donuts and beer are to a certain yellow father. While Evergreen Terrace aren’t bringing anything new to the over-saturated table that is this genre, yet they remain dangerous enough for Ned Flanders to keep Rod and Todd from listening.
Good review! The album isn't too shabby, I find it basically sounds like Wolfbiker part 2. I have a soft spot for Chaney's vox so I'm just eating up a couple of these songs.
Not really my cup of tea, but for what this is, I really think this is a great album, this has enough punk for me to like it on certain days, especially while driving!
I never cared for this band until I heard this album, made me wanna give the other ones a chance. Good album, good review. The fast tracks are my favorites (like 2,5,6).
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