Driver Side Impact - Lion
Record Label: Victory Records
Release Date: October 28, 2008
Driver Side Impact’s debut, The Very Air We Breathe, was released in May 2007 to very little fanfare for a Victory Records release. The album featured some cool atmospheric guitar work and definitely gave some cause for optimism, but overall, it was hindered to a large degree by an awkward vocal performance from lead singer Branden Langhals. Typically, the reward for optimism seems to be disappointment and, to an extent, this holds true with the release of Driver Side Impact’s latest album, Lion.
On the positive side, there has been a definite improvement on the vocals, with Langhals sounding much more self-assured. However, while competent, the vocals on this record, to me, come off almost like some sort of scene cliché. Every unsigned band sending out MySpace friend requests has a vocalist that sounds pretty much just like this. Plus, the band as a whole sound much more generic this time around as well (perhaps due to lineup changes), with none of the experimental spirit that made The Very Air We Breathe at least a little bit charming despite its flaws.
The album does start of on a little bit of a high note with “Walking on Water,” which is basically an anthemic, Moog-infused pop-punk song, with a few brief “heavier” moments, but somehow, it just works. It’s not long before the album starts heading south with “Patience,” ironically titled because the repeated “Gave it up! Gave it up!” is definitely tiring and trying on your patience. The ambient bridge section has a guitar line pulled right out of Angels and Airwaves’ catalog and it definitely sounds out of place. It’s followed by “Rumor Mill,” which is a pretty catchy pop song with chugging guitars, in the vein of Mayday Parade. However, by the time the chorus, which is repetitive in itself, comes around for the fourth time, the song becomes almost tiresome on the first listen.
The ninety-second instrumental “The Ties That Bind and Breaks Within” is a monotonous tribal-sounding piece that doesn’t seem to serve any purpose other than for the band to be able to say, “We’re artistic because we have an instrumental track on our CD.” It’s not interesting in and of itself and it’s not used to build up to or serve as a prelude to anything, so it’s really nothing more than an annoyance. After it softly fades out, we’re attacked by the blaring guitar that opens “The Lion,” a song that instantly reminded me of something you would have found on Scary Kids Scaring Kids. It’s actually one of the more likable tracks on the album. It’s only a brief respite from the tedium, though, as “Elysium” marks the return to formulaic pop-rock, along the lines of the Almost, except without any real hook. It features the dubious lyric, “I’ve got more wit than you imagined. I’ve got more wit than you have ever seen before.” Too bad they have to talk about it instead of actually showing it.
In keeping with the album’s theme, so far, of largely bland music punctuated by flashes of decency, “Better in the Rain” features some nice guitar interplay and boasts the most memorable chorus on the record (“It’s not like I care but you / Got me treading water in dark blue”). “The Day You Made the Sky Fall” and “All for Nothing” follow it up fairly inoffensively, setting up the intriguing “Ascending.” This track forgoes the poppy guitar-driven formula they’ve used so far in favor of more brooding atmosphere in the verses and a heavier chorus. I thought that the more aggressive songs on The Very Air We Breathe were most effective, and the same is true with this track, except for the ridiculous ending, which finds screaming (pretty much the only time on the album it’s used) coincident with Daft Punk style synthesized vocals.
And then there’s “Heaven,” the acoustic guitar driven instrumental closer. Much like “The Ties That Bind and Break Within,” it only seems to be here to bring the album up to eleven tracks. It doesn’t sound like anything else on the album and it doesn’t serve to tie anything together at the finish line. It’s just sort of there, a disappointing end to a disappointing album.
I wasn't blown away by this album but it had a few strong tracks, some that weren't so great, good but not great. I''d give it a 7.5. Still makes me excited for what they will do next.
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