Metroschifter - Encapsulated
(Initial)
Metroschifter is a Louisville based rock band who meld punk and metal into a
catchy, hard-hitting combination. The idea
behind this album (their fifth) is very interesting. The Metroschifter's Scott
Ritcher usually does home recordings of the
basic ideas for their songs, then the rest of the band listens to those recordings
and helps him flesh the songs out. This
time, instead of giving those recordings to the band members, he sent songs to
different bands whose styles he thought were
conducive to the particular song he sent. The band was to record their own
version of the song, and the collection of the
other bands' interpretations would comprise the new Metroschifter album. The list
of bands who chose to participate is
quite impressive, including Joan of Arc, the Rye Coalition, the Get Up Kids, the
Promise Ring, Burning Airlines, and many
more.
I haven't really liked the Metroschifter albums I've heard, but I'm a fan of both
The Rye Coalition and Joan of Arc, so the
combination of the interesting idea behind the album and the presence of those two
bands swayed my decision and I bought the
album.
To my dismay, I don't like the Rye Coalition's track, "It's Not the Way I Feel
Anymore." It follows the style of their
second album, which I thought was not good, barring a few completely great
moments. However, the Joan of Arc track,
"Forensic Economics," is better than I expected it to be. It sounds like they
really put a lot of effort into making the
song sound like it was written by them, down to the lyrics and title of the song.
Burning Airlines play a song called "Dear Hillary." Now, I thought Jawbox did
some great things, but I've never really
liked Burning Airlines, so it surprised me when I sort of liked
this track. It is based around an acoustic guitar part, which is then accented by
an electric guitar, bass, and a great
sounding low end thump. I think that what I like about the song is J. Robbins?
voice, because it adds so much tension. It
sounds a lot closer to Jawbox than I was expecting from a Burning Airlines track, but the actual songwriting sticks out as
subpar. I'm not sure what it is, but it's the same problem I've had with every
other track on this CD (except Joan of
Arc's) and the other Metroschifter albums. They play parts that are supposed to
rock, but they don't seem to rock to my
ears. They play parts that are supposed to be pretty or sad, but sound like
neither to me. For whatever reason, the
Metroschifter's style doesn't work for me. If you like more of the bands on this
CD or if you like the Metroschifter, this would probably be a great album.
Coming from the perspective of not liking the band, Joan of Arc was the only band
that let me see past the songwriting I
otherwise wouldn't have appreciated.
|
