Review Summary: I wanted to like this album, I really did
My Ticket Home's first LP, something that maybe you were perhaps looking forward to? Don't worry, I was too. I came into this album hoping that it would prove that not all Rise bands were the same, while the album does shine at some points, I don't think it can be considered completely different from all the other bands under that much-talked about record label.
Last night, when the album first came out, I downloaded it the second It went on sale in iTunes. Their EP, The Opportunity To Be proved to me that this band has potential. My favorites were Surroundings, Desertion and self-titled track mostly because of the hooks that Sean Mackowski made. They were catchy and he a good voice. I, for one, can respect a good sounding clean chorus simply because I've heard so many bad choruses. Sean has a great a voice and he shines in different parts in the album. I feel like his voice really helps the song in 'Atlas'. I love the verse in 'The Truth Changes If We Both Lie',however I don't think the chorus does anything special. I think Sean does a lot to help the songs, because without him, all the songs would mediocrity with all the other bands in metalcore. The screamed vocals I think are only alright. To me, they very similar to Caleb Shomo's vocals where it almost seems like he needs air when he tries to go too low. The vocals are very mediocre in this genre. Although, Nick Giumenti's vocals have some weird effect on the mood of the song. He can make it sound more angry than other vocalists that I listen to, which is a good thing for the lyrics he writes.
The guitars in this album are nothing surprising; they're not very technical at all. I can tell the band definitely tried to be more creative in this album, the opening riff in 'Beyond' is very groovy. It almost reminds me of this one band I listen to from time to time called Disciple. Although I give them credit for stepping out of their comfort zone slightly, the new riffs fail to catch my attention as some other riffs. As I was listening to this album, I was hearing a lot of riff ideas that I haven't really heard before, although with that, they need to be catchy. In metalcore, the word "generic" gets thrown out a lot. In almost any YouTube video of a metal song, you'll see that somewhere in the comments. Most people think that as long as you do something that hasn't been done, the music is automatically good. That's not exactly the case. The music has to be creative as well as catchy. Like I said before, sometimes their music was original, but I didn't get that "Woah, that was a good riff" feeling. Generally the riffs were decent and sometimes helped the feel
One song that I have to point out is 'Fear Complex'. Remember, the first time I listened to this album was at midnight so it was completely dark. When the song started, I was almost scared with the dialogue in the song. It displayed so much emotion that I could almost feel it. The first riff is so simple yet so fitting for the feel that the song is giving off. That song, while generic produced an eerie feel that I haven't felt before. That was just something I felt that they did really well. Like most other bands in this genre, the bass is almost mixed out and the drums are sub-par. Nothing special in either of those areas.
Really, this album wasn't that bad. In fact, I like listening to it from beginning to end. However, I still maybe think that the rating would be about a 2.75 with the good singer. That's my honest answer for this, I can't choose between them So I just brought it down. This is my first review by the way.
