Hit and Miss (3/5)
so....
....what if i claim that it sounds like oasis?
i don't have much of a memory of this thing. i remember it showing up frequently in usenet tags, specifically in alt.fan.smashing-pumpkins, mostly by the same kids that were into hum. remember hum? so, i was a bit cautious. yes, i remember the legendary pitchfork review. i remember checking out a few samples and thinking it sounded like nu-metal. in hindsight, i think it's prudent that i retreat from that association; although it does have a fair bit of aimless screaming, it's definitely from a hardcore/punk tradition. see, in 2002 all mainstream rock music sucked because it was either garage rock or nu-metal. so, why frustrate yourself? if it had a buzz it must be awful....
the disc is really a combination of the bigger, more epic sound on the first and the poppier sound on the second. are they repeating themselves? well, that's not always a bad idea, especially when you can improve on it, and they arguably do that here. while there's a conscious attempt at making the vocal melodies the center of the disc, the guy's just not a good enough singer to do it. it's really more about largely monotone vocal *syncopation*, and if the lyrics weren't cheesy that might work out ok, but they are and it doesn't. also, if i'm going to complain about it being shitty 00's rock then the garage association is stronger than the nu-metal one.
as was always the case with the trail of the dead, the disc has some very high points. but, as was always the case with the trail of the dead, the high points on the disc are buried within it's over-riding mediocrity. unfortunately, this might truly be amongst the best mainstream rock records released in 2002, but that says more about how bad the era was for mainstream rock music than it does about how good the disc is.
another common theme with the trail of the dead is that their discs are front-loaded; the first two tracks almost reach the highs described in the pitchfork review, which makes me wonder, but the record drops off instantly and never gets close to that point of intensity again. as a 1/2 single, i might list this as the classic some kids want to pretend that it is. a little more could be salvaged,, however; 1,2,5,6,7,9,10 constructs a very listenable ep.
http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Source+Tags+and+Codes/1231957
