Reviews

So several people have told me Holy Roman Empire is really good. Here’s the part where I agree:      
 
The band, which includes seasoned veterans of hardcore Neeraj Kane (Suicide File, Hope Conspiracy), Jay Jencetic (Arma Angelus), Geoff Reu (Killing Tree) and Tony Tintari (Rise Against, Shai Hulud) wrote some pretty solid music and performed it very well.      
 
The producers, Matt Allison and Neil Hennessy, did a fine job producing and mixing.      
 
Now here’s the part where I disagree:      
 
Holy Roman Empire’s debut album, The Longue Durée, isn’t bad. For the most part it’s just boring. I could hear songs like these anywhere on Top 40 radio.    
The music tries to be powerful and passionate. Because everyone who created this album knew what they were doing musically, parts of this attempt are successful. There’s a lot of quick-strumming and aura-establishing guitars, interplay of instruments, and big, song-ending musical build-ups. But all this wears a little thin after about eight tracks.      
 
Despite being the best part of the album, the instrumental portion plays background to Emily Schambra’s vocals. And while she is a naturally talented vocalist, I’m not particularly concerned with talent. This is punk, not Top 40 radio; talent is incidental. It’s more important the singer be passionate. Emily’s vocals come across pretty flat, like she’s singing just to sing, not to express anything. She sings about being ‘so fucking angry’ in the same exact way she sings about being ‘hollow’ and ‘vanishing.’      
 
The vocals not only seem removed from the lyrical content, but from the band as well. Sometimes I felt like the band could breakout and do something cool, but they kept toning down to allow for vocals, thereby sounding like a really talented backup band most of time.  
 
So with this much emphasis on vocals, the lyrics should be great. But they’re not; they’re so not. Every song is essentially about the same thing – some problem in some relationship. Or something…I really have no idea what the lyrics are describing. They’re so vague, they border on pointless. Plenty of bands write fairly simplistic lyrics, but at least I get what’s going on. At least they have something real to say. If you’re going to go describing vague feelings, you need concrete details and imagery. I love when I listen to music and feel like I can relate, or at the very least appreciate the writer’s experience – and I just don’t get that with this album.
 
The truth is, good producers can make this album with good musicians. It’s got all the quality, but that’s not what I look for in an album. That’s not why I listen to punk music. I listen to punk for the honesty and heart and that just doesn’t come across on here.