I don't think there has ever been an album that I've liked that I have hated so much about. Case in point; not even fifteen seconds into Crime in Stereo's debut album for Bridge Nine Records there's a damn wah-wah pedal part. I hate wah-wah pedal parts. Does anyone out there like wah-wah pedal parts that isn't sitting in front of their dilapidated trailer next to some scraggly ruffian and saying, "Hey man is that Freedom Rock?" Okay, maybe a lot of you out in Scene Point Blank's loyal readership land don't remember those awful Freedom Rock 60's rock compilation commercials that impregnated the late night cable air like a prom date gone awry. So I'll put it in simpler terms, wah-wah pedals equal dirty smelly hippie rock. I'm not a fan of dirty smelly hippie rock. Actually come to think of it I'm not a fan of anything rank, filthy or anything having to do with the counterculture of the late 60's and the 70's. Seriously, Crime in Stereo, a wah-wah pedal?
Next up is the Incubus inspired "Third Atlantic." You heard me, Incubus. The beginning of "Third Atlantic" sounds a lot like that "Pardon me while I burn
" song Incubus came bursting onto the airwaves half a decade ago. I hate Incubus. You know who does like Incubus? Chicks. Really confused nu-metal just off to college girls who can't take a second out of their damp panties wet dreams of Brandon Boyd to realize that if "good" were bright center of the universe, Incubus would currently reside on the planet farthest from.
By the time "...But You are Vast" rolls around I'm about to chuck this CD out the window of the bus and hopefully it will impale some innocent bystander with all its wah-wah pedal Incubus suckiness to a lamppost. However, "...But You are Vast" is one of the greatest melodic hardcore songs ever created. It is perfect and surely saves some Joe Schome from becoming a digital crucifixion. Wow, what a great song. Crime in Stereo, I knew you couldn't fail me. I mean you are the only band in the last five years that's made me re-fall in love hardcore. You are the only new band that's made me think, "Oh yes! These guys get it." What is "it"? It is that and you know that when you hear it. Crime in Stereo has it.
Now excuse all my vagueness and let's get to meat of ...is Dead. I understand what Crime in Stereo is trying to do. They are trying to expand their musical horizons by adding in a lot of effect pedals, dancey disco drumbeats, breathy singing, and pure unadulterated pop bliss. They even went out and got Mike Sapone to produce this album. However, instead of sounding like The Troubled Stateside part two, they may have told Mr. Sapone that he could twiddle the knobs however he felt like. The end result was an album that is way overproduced and is slick as snot on an ice rink covered in Vaseline. What ...is Dead sounds like is Brand New at their hardest or Straylight Run at their non-horriblest. Crime in Stereo wanted to evolve as most bands want to. I mean, why would any band want to play the same three or four chords for their entire careers? It surely spelled a death curse for bands like Lifetime, Screeching Weasel, Ramones and even AC/DC. Grow child of rock. Rock critics will salute your effects pedal boards and unnecessarily noisy bridges and interludes.
I know it sounds like I'm slinging an ample amount of poo at ...is Dead but in all reality I really like the album. It's just a bit much to swallow. It doesn't sound like the Crime in Stereo we knew but ...is Dead also doesn't sound like a whole new band. It just sounds a like a band that doesn't want to redo what made them awesome. They want to reinvent themselves. They don't want to be pigeonholed. That's all well and good, it just takes awhile for me to wrap my closed minded head around it. I like all the blips and bleeps. I like all the new-wave gothic parts. Hell, "Orbiter" reminds of a great Love & Rockets song if they weren't so English. I still like Crime in Stereo. Sure it would of been great if they would of continued on making records like The Troubled Stateside but that would of have been boring for them. And that would have caused them to break up after another album. Crime in Stereo wants to be around for the long run. I just hope with their next album they can take all the new ideas and hopefully mix them with the old more often. This is what made "...You're so Vast" my favorite song of 2007. Could you imagine an album full of tracks like that one mixed with "Small Skeletal," "Animal Farm," "Nixon," and the final track, "Choker." Man that would be a hell of an album. Crime in Stereo stray away from wah-wah and the Incubus albums next time. No one really wants to hear that. Ever. Well, expect maybe dirty hippie female nu-metal college freshman.
