It's never really a good sign when the first thing that pops into my head when I listen to To Hell with Motives is "ugh." The CD starts off earnestly enough with a noise-laden track that actually had me hoping Deadguy Part Deux. Sadly that never happened as the end of the intro ends with some kid (I believe his name is Chris because he's the only one credited for vocals, while everyone else "screams") sings in this angelic choirboy voice that I almost went to Myspace to find his profile to ask him if his balls ever truly descended.
Another "ugh" quality is they love to drop D-tune mosh part. Also known as around my apartment as "The mosh part within a mosh part." Everything goes heavy and then it just gets heavier until you feel like you're being crushed under the weight of the mosh. The only band capable of pulling this off is named Slayer. And Bombshell, you are not Slayer. Actually, if Slayer were the bright center of the universe, Bombshell would reside on the planet furthest from it.
Bombshell would actually benefit from dropping all the mosh parts and just becoming an emoriffic pop band with solid catchy guitar work and standard ripe for MTV2 mid-tempo drumming. They even have a token minority in the band with a fro and a keyboard player. They could easily be the next Fall Out Boy or Brand New or whatever garbage sixteen year-old girls listen to these days. They can even keep the banshee in the background chirping in the occasional heartfelt Vader-esque "Nooooo" if they want to keep the entire screamo credibility factor that is so hot with kids these days.
Oh, did I mention Bombshell loves the Lord? Well goodie for them. I try to be as open minded as possible when it comes to music but I still get a little queasy when I read "God for giving me the talents and opportunities to be a musician" and "God for keeping us safe at every show and helping us grow together as band through Him". Save it for the prayer circle, boys.
You also got to love it when someone thanks "all the girls that have broken my heart and given me a reason to write about them so it will be forever known in the sound of this CD." Wow. So if your lyrics aren't about some mystical cartoon they must be about girls that wouldn't hold your hand at your church's lock-in or wouldn't make out with you at Cornerstone.
Bombshell is a young and somewhat talented band (by the grace of God) that could be huge if they stopped striving to be the next Underoath and tried to be the next Saosin. However there's nothing I liked on To Hell with Motives from the overly metal pop-punk, to the one note keyboard solos, to the pre-pubescent vocals. I can't tolerate the useless screaming, especially when it's whining about girls breaking their hearts. Spare me your over melodramatic Livejournal poetic nonsense and man up already. I know this type of sound is huge with the kids these days but I am far from a kid. I am even farther away of being a fan of cute, pretty boy Jesus loving pop bands masquerading as a hardcore/metal/indie rock band to score with chicks.
