| Do you like generally upbeat, overwrought rock songs guaranteed to make you either tap your foot in agreement or cringe at their vapidity? If so, youll love the highly refined yet still cookie cutter sound of ActionReaction's 3 Is The Magic Number. With the sheen of a major label behind them, ActionReaction have written a record whose catchiness is surpassed only by its complete lack of substance. There are times where it works, amazingly enough.
The first five songs are the strongest on the CD, and as a result will get the most plays over the long term. Up until the infectious ballad Come See My Grave 3 Is The Magic Number is a promising emo-rock album. Once it passes Come See My Grave the album meanders through a collection of minor hits and major misses that compose the remaining seven songs. The rest of the tracks are bouncy and upbeat but the lyrics fall well short of memorable. In fact, this is a perfect example of the cookie cutter sound that ActionReaction have. Once you wake up from this bore, you will get to hear the true talent of Jason Gleason, With My Voice, a dead ringer for any generic late 90s alternative radio hit, complete with the predictable breathless intro and the mindless chorus that will stick in your head for days, this song will probably polarize listeners. Some will enjoy it for the radio-ready potential that it entertains, but others will point out the emptiness of the song once it stops, namely the cliche woe is me crap that seems to find its way into so many albums lately. Frankly, Im tired of it; bands should sack up and write a ballad or any slow song that your typical angsty teen cannot churn out on a bad day. A chugging riff highlights Have A Cocktail but it is yet another pleasant yet predictable pop song.
Many of you will probably enjoy ActionReaction to some extent. Inherently, most music fans in this scene enjoy a few bands like this; I know I do. They lack originality, but their songs are loud and bold, and most of all, infectious. The CD is well produced and the instruments are a key focus of the record. Disappointingly, many of the chances that the band had to mix it up and experiment musically went by the wayside in favor of straightforward pop. If you enjoyed any of the releases from Brandtson, Dashboard Confessional, and Days Away this year, ActionReaction is probably worth the purchase. Otherwise, I suggest you give them a listen beforehand because the staying power is a bit weak unless they catch hold with you and simply dont let go. For a major label-supported band, you could do much worse than ActionReaction, but given the frequency of pop and pop-punk releases over the past few years, you could also do a lot better.
~ Wayne
July 28 2006 |
