Review Summary: Inme take their musical influences and throw them on a canvas to make an album.
English hard rock band Inme has returned once again for their fourth album
Herald Moth. Last outing saw the boys and primary songwriter Dave McPherson take a more progressive and technical route to deliver
Daydream Anonymous, arguably their best album to date despite disappointing album sales. Fortunately, a slip in the market didn’t deter the band, and they have decided to continue down the technical path while bringing new second guitarist Ben Konstantinovic along for the ride. The band is banking on this album to return them to their prior relative success that came with their debut album in 2003; if it fails, the future for Inme could turn out to be bleak. So here it is: will 'Herald Moth' turn out to be a success?
Technically speaking,
Herald Moth is a progression for the band--both in the way that that the album is slightly more dense-sounding in nature and in that the band
attempts a few different music ideas here as well. Those familiar with the sound of the band's previous album have a general idea of what to expect here: the songs contain technically delicate riffs, eyebrow raising solos, and Dave’s characteristic snarl and croon in the vocal sections the songs. Ben’s inclusion adds a little extra weight in the guitar department as well, even though things were already decently heavy to begin with anyway.
One new feature is the inclusion of more keyboard sections throughout, an addition the listener may or may not come to enjoy. Songs like the catchy opener "You Won’t Hear from Me Again", The Paramore-sounding "Captain Killjoy", and filler-ish, dime-a-dozen "A Mouth Full of Loose Teeth" all have little keyboard intros and individual samples within the songs that seem to take the emphasis away from the stellar guitar sections. In its place a cheesy addend is thrown into to the album’s equation. Various segues also connect many of the songs together in an attempt to give the album more of a cohesive feeling; suffice to say, they are not really necessary as much of the album sounds relatively similar throughout its course anyway.
Highlights on the album are usually those tracks that remind the listener of what was best about the previous album,
Daydream Anonymous. The aforementioned opener and second track "Belief Revival" show the listener truly what Inme is best at: creating technically satisfying music--up to a point--and catchy tunes. "The Art Of Moderation" follows a similar vein and the ironically titled first single "Single of the Weak" both offer up the album’s most addictive moments. On the tail end of the album "Happy To Disappoint You" features an extended solo section which any guitar fan can enjoy and find quite satisfying.
Herald Moth does have some major problems though; one of which has to deal with songs that tend to sound the same and the inclusion of two somewhat weak ballads between the aforementioned highlights. However, a more detrimental problem to the album is how the band attempts to cram their various musical influences into
Herald Moth's framework. Inme takes on quite a huge load of responsibility here, apparently trying to combine Sikth, Iron Maiden, Protest the Hero, Fightstar, Scar Symmetry, Saosin, and seemingly many others as well into into a single album. While the band is undoubtedly skilled and quite talented at what they do, I can't help but get the feeling that everything seems jammed together: the melodies, lyrics, keyboards, and guitars all sound like they are trying to fight for air. Oddly enough, the band might have been better off with just slowing it down a little and subsequently letting the instruments breathe and create their own uniform environment. In truth this may be one instance where a band’s own regression in sound may have been beneficial to the whole.
In efforts to remain relevant and survive in the music market, Inme has created their densest album yet. There is no denying the technical skill here, and anyone interested in rock music with a more creative edge is certainly invited to check this album out as there is plenty of technical mechanics to enjoy. However, as a whole,
Herald Moth suffers from inconsistent songwriting and a bad case of muddy and unorganized musical influence syndrome. If Inme wish to continue onward in the market, it is advised that they sit down as a band and set apart which influences they truly want to make prevalent in their sound; it also wouldn’t hurt to slow it down a bit just so the instruments and vocals can fit cohesively together. After all, albums created merely from an abstract canvas of reckless talent and musical influences seem to have quite a hard time finding relevance in the world.
