| Growing up, one of my favorite shows on television was always Who’s Line is it Anyway? I don’t know how many of you readers are familiar with this show, but it was an improvisational skit comedy show. They had one particular bit where people from the audience would yell out different things, and that’s what the four guys on the show had to do. You might ask, “why are you ranting about this show, we’re talking about a band” and the simple reply is The Midnight Life is the musical version of that bit.
During the writing process of this show, I am almost positive that someone was standing in their practice space saying “okay, you’re Underoath” and then thirty seconds later, “okay, now you’re New Found Glory” and then a minute later “okay, now you’re Evergreen Terrace” and then to wrap the whole thing up “now you’re Maylene and the Sons of Disaster!” Every track on The Midnight Life’s homage to The Chronicles of Narnia (if you couldn’t figure out the Aslan’s Fury reference…) is nothing more than an ADD kid with a bunch of favorite bands, the style is all over the place.
They say that when it comes to a lot of things that we’re our own worst enemy. This album is proof. If you break apart each of these styles into individual sections, The Midnight Life can play, and pretty well. If we could get them to settle on one specific genre instead of being a hyperactive kid on a trampoline with a Fun Dip buzz, I could see them being successful with what they do. I would particularly recommend that they stick with the melodic sections of their songs, it’s their biggest strength. When they start singing and playing catchy riffs, they sound like a cross between Hawthorne Heights and New Found Glory and it works really well. But of course, for some reason they think they need breakdowns, heavy riffs, and well, it just ruins everything.
~ Shane
May 15 2008 |
