LOWER DEFINITION - THE GREATEST OF ALL THE LOST ARTS

Ferret Records

August 7, 2008, 12:26 PM

On first listen this record sounds like a promising combination of two bands; Glassjaw and The Bled. Now for some people reading you're probably thinking that's a good thing, right? Not so for LD. They've managed to produce an album so derivative that any qualities it does have are simply overshadowed but the fact that we've heard it ALL before.

From the opener 'To Satellite's washed out acoustic strummings, to the post hardcore pulse of 'Miami Nights' LD rip through a technically impressive and yet thoroughly boring tracklisting. Any emotion on this album sounds contrived and the structures for all the songs seem to be near enough identical, almost every track featuring the standard middle 8 'beatdown' with overly distorted screaming. I don't think vocalist Matt Geise could have sounded any more like Daryl Palumbo if he'd tried. The one factor that kept this review at a six rather than a five or four are Eddy Marshburns guitar riffs, crunchingly heavy and yet diverse, he's one too watch out for, it's just a shame the songs are so throwaway.

If this album had come out 5 or 6 years ago people would stand up and listen but in today’s market flooded with lookalike 'emo-hardcore' bands 10 to the dozen, these guys just fall short. Wait for the new Glassjaw album, I can guarantee it'll be 100 times better than this.