Sainthood Reps
Monoculture


3.5
great

Review

by atrink USER (75 Reviews)
February 5th, 2013 | 23 replies


Release Date: 2011 | Tracklist

Review Summary: One Voice. One Monoculture.

The current state of affairs at Tooth and Nail Records is far from favorable; once the most prominent ‘christian’ record labels throughout the entire country, it seems that nearly every single one of their lynchpin artists are either leaving or slowly sliding into mediocrity. With this lack of production it seemed as though their best releases were left in the distant past. Enter Sainthood Reps out of Long Island, the alt rock/grunge band that was heralded to bring Tooth and Nail back from the brink of obscurity. Sadly Sainthood Reps didn’t last much longer than their contemporaries, as late last year we saw the inevitable split after releasing but a single album with the dying record label.

Despite tours with bands such as Brand New, mewithoutYou, La Dispute, Balance & Composure and O’Brother, Sainthood Reps has not really garnered the attention they deserve. Some of this may be attributed to the record label situation aforementioned, but it is more likely due to the fact that their debut album, Monoculture, is a difficult album to digest on first listen. Monoculture is an album that doesn’t pretend to be anything it is not, as throughout the entire record one is treated to unbridled alternative rock, tinged with the grunge sound made ever so popular in the 90’s. Songs such as the title track or album closer Widow best exemplify this sound, as they are both especially heavy and “sludgy”. While it is completely conceivable that many will avoid listening at the mere mentioning of “modern day” grunge, it should be stated that Sainthood Reps has that fleeting it factor. If you’re not a fan of the grunge genre in and of itself fear not, as Sainthood reps manages to add their own distinctive twist to the outdated genre, all while succeeding in making the album feel as personal as it needs be.

It is fairly obvious where Sainthood Reps find their influences; Nearly every song could fit into a Nirvana or even a later day Brand New record without much turbulence. (An interesting fact: Guitarist Derrick Sherman was a touring member of Brand New for quite some time.) Upon my first listen to lead single DINGUS I often times found myself forgetting that it was indeed Francesco Montesanto, not Jesse Lacey, belting out Wait! Wait! Who do you think you are?. But the vocals are not the only parallels between Sainthood Reps and Daisy-era Brand New. The instrumentation is similar as guitarists Derrick Sherman and Francesco Montesanto use a vast assortment of different pedals and effects to create some rather unique soundscapes. Standout track Hunter could be considered a summation of this experimentation, despite the fact that a fairly common song structure is employed. As Hunter ends, it flows seamlessly into one of the more aggressive tracks on the album, No/Survival. Implementing fuzz guitars this song clocks in at a mere 2 minutes and 14 seconds, but still manages to be a definite highlight.

Monoculture is an album that is almost the definition of a back-loaded album, as nearly all of my favorite tracks find themselves after the midway point. Actually the entirety of the last five tracks are near perfection. That’s not to say that the first five tracks are lacking in substance, it’s just that the back-half of the album manages to include every single highlight track and leave the listener wanting more. If one can succeed in getting past the interesting, yet admittedly tedious opening tracks, they will be pleased to hear the potential that Sainthood Reps is oozing with. Although Monoculture is an album that often times has a difficult time differentiating itself from its obvious influences, if it is given a proper and fair listen, it becomes obvious that we are being introduced to band that has nowhere to go but up.



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user ratings (69)
3.5
great


Comments:Add a Comment 
atrink
February 5th 2013


2855 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I've been meaning to review this for a while now. I guess now's a good a time as any lol.



Feel free to help me out with grammar mistakes or sentence structure. I'm just getting over the flu so I think my brain might still be mush

Atari
Staff Reviewer
February 5th 2013


28009 Comments


No Silverstein review? Lol

Digging: Ceres - Magic Mountain (1996?2022)

atrink
February 5th 2013


2855 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I have like 3 half written reviews sitting on my computer right now,including the silverstein one, and i figured that since you already posted yours mine can wait for a little bit. lol It'll be done by this week though. I have a lot of free time coming up lol

Atari
Staff Reviewer
February 5th 2013


28009 Comments


Great review though, pos'd. I grew up listening to tooth and nail bands

atrink
February 5th 2013


2855 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Thanks man. This one actually took me awhile to write. And same here. That's why i'm pretty disappointed by their current releases

Cygnatti
February 5th 2013


36129 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

good band, quite catchy they are

atrink
February 5th 2013


2855 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

They said they're releasing a new record this year, I'm curious as to what label they'll be a part of.

Eko
February 5th 2013


2118 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

great review great band score is correct

atrink
February 5th 2013


2855 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I'm glad I have your approval ;)

atrink
February 5th 2013


2855 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I am usually pretty disappointed if a review gets less than 10 comments, so here is a nice shameless comment to get me there. I should stop reviewing things that no one has ever heard of lol

Cygnatti
February 6th 2013


36129 Comments

Album Rating: 2.0

these guys are on not music choice but the other free on demand music thing so they aren't that unknown

atrink
February 6th 2013


2855 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

They only have 35 rating here. I'm pretty sure by sputnik's standards that's pretty unheard of lol

ExcentrifugalForz
February 10th 2013


2124 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

They broke up???? Son of a..

atrink
February 10th 2013


2855 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Woah?!!! who said they broke up? i just said that they left tooth and nail..

ExcentrifugalForz
February 10th 2013


2124 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

poor reading comprehension

atrink
February 10th 2013


2855 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

You gave me a mini-heart attack lol

HenchmanOfSanta
May 2nd 2013


1994 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Checking these guys out because they're playing at BLED Fest. First track sounds like something 16 would write, which was unexpected.

loveisamixtape
October 22nd 2013


12415 Comments


new one sounds pre' good so far

loveisamixtape
October 22nd 2013


12415 Comments


vocalist sounds so much like Jesse Lacey on the new album hahaha it's actually well done tho

juiceviaorange
July 25th 2016


1078 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Still prefer this album to the new one, and am in the minority with that opinion



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