Reviews

At first listen, this album was decent, with only a few tracks that really
stood out, (the main one being the first track "Stop Sign Racing.") And so
initially, I was just kinda like "eh" about it. That was until a few days
later, when some random chorus of one of the songs was stuck in my head when
I was driving. Later that day, I listened the the album with a different
attitude going into it. It's a good thing I did, because this one grew on me
really fast. This Afternoon play the typical indie-rock mixed with modern
pseudo-emo music, only better. First off, their lead vocalist Darian Lizzote
has a lower sounding voice, as opposed to the squeals emitting from most
singers in bands of this genre right now. It's gutty and powerful, and can
be whiny at times too, which is a good thing. He can sure belt it out when
need be, but he's not afraid to be gentle. The songs are pretty catchy, but
are not overly poppy. The song structures take a lot of different
directions, and often have random instrumental parts that go on for quite
some time, before settling back down into another chorus or two. It's hard
putting a finger on exactly what is so good about this cd, but if I could
pick a word to describe it, I would say "humble," so take that for what it's
worth. I feel these guys are holding back in a sense, and it's not always a
good thing. Some of the songs on here end when I think they had a lot more
left in them, and some stretch on a bit too much. This album sure does have
it's moments though, especially the first two songs "Stop Sign Racing," with
it's driving tempo and excellent backing vocals, and "To Be Where You Are," a
song that doesn't seem intended to be catchy, but you'll find the low key
chorus stuck in your head before you know it. "Cloudy" starts off slow
enough, but ends up being a great, near 6 minute ballad-like mid tempo song
about a relationship on the downfall. "Language Lessons" falls into the
category of songs that had more left in them, but it's still a fine one at
that. The album trudges on, providing more subtle pop-rock songs that will
stay in your head covertly, before climbing back up a notch on "In Third
Orbit," a song that seems relaxed at first, and then later on bursts into a
group vocal chorus of "your promise means nothing!" with Lizzote echoing
"save your lies." The production of this album is nice, it provides a good
emphasis on the guitars and gives the drums a big meaty sound, and I love
Darian's voice. The instrumentation is good, but nothing amazing, thought
there are some nice instrumental parts here and there that grab your
attention. Overall, a pretty good debut album from these guys. It'll be
interesting to see what direction they take on future releases, until then,
pick this one up if you are bored with the current mass of generic melodic
rock bands.