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Matchbook RomanceVoices Epitaph/Shock After the pop-drenched emo-melodrama of debut full-length 'Stories And Alibis,' who could have predicted that US outfit Matchbook Romance would have been capable of 'Voices'? Who would have thought that after one listen the words that would have sprung to mind would have been "complex", "dark", "Muse" and "Radiohead"? Who wouldn't be absolutely startled by this record? Opening with the haunting You Can Run, But We'll Find You, 'Voices' is a dark concept album of sorts; and not dark in that My Chemical Romance "there are vampires after me" kind of way - the riffs are heavy, the bass throbbing and distorted, the cover art bizarre and Andrew Jordan's lyrics cliche-free and bitter ("you're just chasing shadows / show us some heart and confess your sins"). Jordan's melodies are far less direct, channelling Matthew Bellamy and Thom Yorke like there's no tomorrow, a notion which the album's bleak outlook seems to agree with. The album takes listen after listen to wrap your head around, the songs ranging from the sprawling seven-minute epic Goody, Like Two Shoes which bounces along string lines from see-sawing verse to soaring chorus, to the carnival punk blast of Monsters - and it is a very disturbing carnival indeed. Matchbook Romance remain at their best when combining their new-found arrangement prowess with their already displayed penchant for catchy hooks - the brilliant Fiction, replete with choppy rhythms, a knockout chorus and a furious instrumental breakdown is quite simply the most exhilarating emo track I've heard since Brand New's Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades. 'Voices' is a flawed record. Those new influences I've spoken of are painfully obvious; My Mannequin Can Dance's riff directly channels Muse's Apocalypse Please, the vocal melodies are quite a strict combination of Matchbook melodrama, 'Absolution' and 'OK Computer,' and the piano intro to You Can Run sounds a little too much like Karma Police. It's also a very long record, and the songs can get lost in ideas that get repeated a little too often. That said, it is also a very brilliant record, a record that demands that non-believers take emo seriously, a record that is a huge step up for Matchbook Romance, and a record that only heightens my anticipation for what Brand New will come up with later in the year.  |
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