Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

My first impression of Keram was that his music was a little dry.  The first track, Fascinating has the makings of a nice tune but it sounds unfinished and too quiet.  Keram doesn't sing this song with much energy and he barely strums his guitar.  While he's focusing on making the lyrics share in the "ing" rhyme at the end of each line -- and this could be cute -- I wasn't quite buying it because I didn't feel like Keram was really trying to sell it.  Several subsequent songs followed suit and, just when I was about to write him off as a boring artist, Box got really interesting.  I'll stay chronological with the album, starting with the not so memorable, and onto the "Where did THAT come from?" greatness at the end. 

Dove Bone is another slow song that might have potential but just doesn't cut it.  The song itself might be good but the way it is performed doesn't showcase its goodness.  Keram's voice sounds more like he is talking than singing and leaves one craving for a melodious sound.  There are, however, some cool echoing effects in Dove Bone that perked my ears up (perhaps this was a little foreshadowing).  In the Mourning also shows some signs of interest; it has some dissonant chords and weird sounds.  But the pace is dull and the singing is nothing special once again.

Angel of Death is, again, more interesting.  There's something likeable about this one but it still sounds a bit amateur.  His voice sounds like it's struggling to hit the notes.  And, once again, it seems too low key especially for a song that I'm pretty sure is about shooting down an angel (or something crazy like that).   The lyrics are actually noteworthy in a philosophical sort of way even though I wasn't able to decipher their exact meaning.  In fact, Angel of Death reminded me of a very watered down version of a Moody Blues song.  But, I just kept thinking: "Why didn't he milk the interesting content of this song and make it more exciting?" 

But just when I thought I knew him, Keram stopped sounding low key and nervous.  The last three songs were really, I mean REALLY, surprising.  The song Amelia is really cute.  This is the lightest and happiest of Keram's songs.  It sounds like he totally cares about this girl, Amelia, and I like that.  The lyrics are nice and there's even a happy whistling segment, further lightening the song.  On the other end of the spectrum, the angry The Hanging Tree is quite convincing.  This song has a great build, unlike the previous tracks, and it really works.  I think anger suits his voice as well.  He sings "I WILL not break for YOU!" and sort of whispers the chorus. Instead of being a one of those annoying, whiny-angry songs by bands like Stained, The Hanging Tree is actually sort of creepy-angry, but in a good way.  This song was a big surprise.  It was fun to listen to and really uncharacteristic of the rest of Box.  Even the guitar work sounded different: it was catchy and edgy.  The third of Keram's really wonderful songs was a jazzy tune called Blue Valentines.  This song is slow but it has enough rhythmic variation that makes it fun. It's very stripped down instrumentally but that suits the jazzy style.  Keram's voice sounds better than ever on this song.  He sounds comfortable and talented singing this style (and wow, the way he sings the word "Ghost" in "And the Ghooooost of your memory!" is amazing).  Those last three songs not only restored my faith in Keram but also showed what a range of styles he can work from so well. 

I just wish that Keram would have come out of his shell for all of Box.  Occasionally he sings something that's pretty or out of his normal range, and when he does, you can hear great potential or sometimes even greatness.  He also makes interesting choices throughout the album that you don't always hear on the radio.  Sometimes these choices aren't enough, but it's refreshing that he makes them, especially when it works out.  For the most part he wasn't showing his full potential but I still really enjoyed his individuality.  If the rest of this album sounded like the last three songs, I would have easily given it a rating of 8.  For now, if you want to listen to something a little different, I would still recommend Keram.  I just hope he keeps making music because when he hits the mark, he really hits it.