Smoke
Off Vinyl
"Walls" CD
Self-released
Genres: indie rock, rock
Oct 13 - 19 2003 |
Thirty
four minutes and fifty two seconds later, I'm still not convinced Smoke
Off Vinyl are anything more than a run-of-the-mill unknown rock
band, but I do see some flashes of real talent on this disc.
They've got the guitars revved up for the majority of the disc (which
can get tiresome, I should note), and they like to use simple pop hooks and
borderline whiney vocals.
The main problem here, however, is that all of Walls' songs sound the
same. This music would be better suited to a four-song EP format as
opposed to a full-length. But that's forgivable, as these young
lads are just starting out and no doubt they're super excited about
what they're doing.
It should be noted that the best song on this album is
"Near." It ain't perfect, but the combination of
calmer pop and more energetic indie rock is well-done, and some of the
melodies are truly effective. The song that follows it,
"Pacific," tries to recreate the soft/hard pop/rock mix-up,
but isn't nearly as successful. Most of the other songs also
follow this basic formula, but only "Talk It Over" really
works.
Flashes of promise are present on Walls, Smoke Off Vinyl's
first album, but as an album it is just a start. If they become
a more well-known band one day, this disc could be worth something -
otherwise, it's just a mediocre indie rock disc without anything new
to say.
70%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 8 tracks, distributed by the
band, released 2003] |
