Review Summary: Good, but like a certain video game, it may be forgotten.
“I want to be forgotten. I want to fade away” sings Kids Icarus frontman Brian Belitto on “It‘s On Me.” Ironic lyrics for the first song on a band’s debut album they may be, but they’re quite fitting given where this band found their namesake. It’s a pretty well known fact amongst hardcore video gamers- most specifically Nintendo fans- that Kid Icarus is a beloved franchise that for seemingly endless years was snubbed in the sequel department. That changed with the announcement of Kid Icarus: Uprising for the recently launched Nintendo 3DS. The series will once again follow Pit as he attempts to reinvent a fusion of dying genres on an exciting new system for a whole new generation.
One thing that can be noted with Kids Icarus’ self-titled debut is that they aren’t reinventing anything yet. This is a highly marketable style of pop-punk that isn’t anything new. Midtown fans will notice especially that to say Belitto’s voice is similar to Gabe Sarporta’s is probably the first big musical understatement of 2011. This is actually pretty awesome and proves to be one of Kids’ best selling points because, believe it or not, he actually used to make really good music.
Kids Icarus is also pretty straightforward album sound-wise, reminiscent of a poppy version of Make Do and Mend, making this a good album for fans of that type of punk injected post-hardcore. Everything meshes together obviously a little too well. Nothing jumps really jump out at the audience, except the hooks in “It’s On Me” and “Firework.” It’s unfortunate that there isn’t a song on this EP where the band find themselves straying out of their comfort zone, if only a little. Just a little more oomph and this might have been pretty memorable to more than just the crowd the band is obviously trying to cater to.
While this may not be a game changing mover and shaker of a debut, it is nonetheless a solid one. With a little more variety in the musical department to help distinguish their sound a little, Kids Icarus have showcased enough songwriting potential to go places. This is a type of music where bands usually can not possibly fail and usually do more than get by riding the ***tiest of trash songs. Hopefully Kids Icarus will find their own identity- living up to their bitchin’ name in the meantime- and that won’t be the case.
