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For some
reason, I was under the impression that Rival Schools would be a
punk band. Late in the summer, I had heard so much about them
– from x-sports videos, event venues, urban stores, and was
therefore anxious to hear their new CD. To my dismay, the end
product did not live up to all the hype. “United By Fate” is
a 13-track album filled with average, not-so-special songs that
feature a raspy-voiced lead singer, who can be considered as a
pop-punk version of Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) meets Gavin
Rossdale (Bush).
It may seem petty, but
although the music had potential, I just couldn’t get over the
vocals. In “Travel by Telephone,” for example, the lead
singer simply sounded like he was struggling to hit certain
notes. In “Everything Has Its Point,” I wanted to let him
know that he didn’t have to yell to get his point across. By
the time I reached the ninth track, “Holding Sand,” I was
irritated. Being a Linkin Park fan, I kept saying, “Hey!
You’re not Chester Bennington, so stop screaming like you
are!”
The bottom line is,
Rival School’s lead vocalist should stick to singing styles
that are within his capabilities. For instance, the
above-average songs in the album were those that were either
slower (“Undercovers On”) or faster (“High Acetate,”
“My Echo”). On slow tracks, the singer maintains a
comfortable singing range, while on the fast ones, listeners can
barely detect the raspy vocals.
The best songs on the
album were the high-adrenaline “Used For Glue,” the pop-punk
“So Down On,” and “Hooligans For Life,” which of course,
was an instrumental.
Overall, “United By
Fate” is average. Most of the songs contain metaphorical,
personal, and all in all, incomprehensible lyrics. They were
just way too personal and I couldn’t get into them. Because of
that, I couldn’t find a way to sing along to any of the songs
- and that’s never fun. Rival Schools made a decent effort and
they deserve 2.5 stars. Still, there is definitely plenty of
room for improvement.
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| Artist |
Rival Schools |
| Title |
United By Fate |
| Label |
Island
Records |
| Reviewer |
Roxanne Reyes |
| Rating |
 |
|
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| website |
Rival
Schools Home |
| win stuff |
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