Words Can't Explain may be the title of this compilation of From The Ground Up's 2004 demo and a handful of new songs recorded in 2005, but I'd be likely to say that words can explain, however. The band's one-sheet describes the sound of From the Ground Up as "mixing the vocals of Turning Point with the musical influences of Bane." That explains things pretty well, I'd say. Funny thing is, this description is a pretty spot on comparison for the band. Not bad company to be compared to, methinks.
I meanââ¬Â¦ I don't know exactly where to go with this review. The one sheet pretty much told you everything you could want to know about this band. The first five songs on Words Can't Explain were recorded in 2005, with the following four songs taken from the band's 2004 demo. The progression in the songs is quite obvious. Looking at the demo tracks, they are all much shorter songs, the band says what they need to say, make their point, and that's that.
With the newer batch of songs, From the Ground Up make great strides in fine tuning their melodic sound. Whereas the longest demo track had a running time of only two minutes and twenty-three seconds, the newer songs, for the most part, stretch out to the three to four minute mark. That isn't to say that just because the new songs are more fleshed out, that the demo tracks aren't good. They are. In fact, they're almost as good as the new tracks that the band has recorded.
Generally, the songs included here aren't "blink and you've missed 'em" fast, but they certainly aren't dark, brooding, hardcore epics, either. The songs typically hold onto a steady mid-tempo beat, incorporating lots of crowd-friendly sing-along parts. One other thing that, right off the bat, is pretty obvious about From the Ground Up. They're positive dudes. They aren't looking to tell you about how fucked up life is, and how people fucking suck. At times some of these words do come off as a bit melancholy, but From the Ground Up are all about keeping your head up, trying to find a silver lining. The lyrics from "The Greater Good," among other songs, say it all: "This may be the worst day of my life, but I'm still grateful to be alive!"
The style of hardcore played here is melodic, but still aggressive. Yea, it's melodic hardcore. I know it's a tired old horse, and a lot of bands are beating the shit out of it right now. Lucky for that poor horse, that isn't the case with From the Ground Up. The band has laid the framework for one hell of a solid tenure in hardcore.
