 Special
Edword
"Our Innocence Is Lost" CD
Self-released
Genres: screamo, rock, emo
Feb 23 - 29 2004 |
Special Edword is your average power screamo band, using growly
vocals and overdriven guitars to look 'macho', but supplementing them
with emotional, love-based lyrics for equilibrium's sake. This
formula is, of course, quite common nowadays, so there's certainly a
market for the band, who apparently have quite a following in their
hometown.
Our Innocence Is Lost, Special Edword's shiny new
album, is a perfect cross-section of the band's sound. Vicious,
screamy numbers are interspersed with soft and sentimental
ballads. Emo kids will be in love. And why shouldn't they
be? Special Edword are really, really good at what they
do. Though this style of music has become quite homogenized over
time, these five guys do it with passion. They're convincing,
and they know how to put hooks together. Even the most whiny
tunes are brimming in pure melody.
However, as is always the case, I would have liked Special
Edword to have done something a bit more creative with Our
Innocence Is Lost. Despite an interesting Slint-esque
spoken-word-based opener, "Thesis," there isn't much
interesting music here. Sure, there's nothing technically wrong
about these eleven songs, but there's also nothing technically
astounding. I realize that this type of music sells, but does it
really do anything else?
75%
Matt Shimmer
[Vitals: 11 tracks, distributed by the
band, released 2003] |
