ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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Four Year Strong
RISE OR DIE TRYING HASSLE RECORDS 28.4.08 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk A five-piece who combine pop, punk, rock and hardcore, Four Year Strong create a sound that’s not a million miles away from Fall Out Boy. I’m still to decide whether this is a good or a bad thing. The opening combination of tracks, “The Takeover” followed by “Prepare To Be Digitally Manipulated”, as well as having a significant overlap in message, are uncomfortably similar to FOB’s “Thriller” / “The Take Over, The Break’s Over” sequence from the start of Infinity On High, only without the kudos of a passing appearance by Jay-Z. The track titles have equally distinctive names, with titles such as “Wrecked Em? Damn Near Killed Em”, “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Hell” and Bada Bing! Wit A Pipe”. Sadly, it seems all of their imagination went into the titles rather than the content. The band’s musical skill is clear, especially the energetic drumming from Jake Massucco, but it’s hard to tell the songs apart. At 33½ minutes, it’s hardly the most generous portion of music to begin with, but when I looked at the CD player and noticed that 4 tracks had passed, I was genuinely surprised - I thought we were still plodding through track one! It’s not that I have anything bad to say about “Rise Or Die Trying”, but there’s a distinct lack of highlights. And the heavy borrowing from Fall Out Boy, Linkin Park and 50 Cent (“Get Rich Or Die Tryin’” only came out a couple of years ago lads…) just cheapen the effort. www.myspace.com/fouryearstrong |