Twenty30

Departure EP

Written by: PP on 27/11/2008 12:56:08

Philadelphia, USA-based Twenty30 play an aggressive form of alternative rock in the vein of Boy Hits Car and Brand New on their six-track EP "Departure", which is the band's best shot at getting signed. And if it was based just on the first three tracks of the EP, their chances would be pretty good, considering how well the band mixes their aggression with memorable song writing.

The EP opener "Pay No Attention" opens up sounding surprisingly similar to Boy Hits Car, a band that I still hold very dear, with the vocalist sounding almost identical to the singer of said band. He shares the same kind of angry passion that jumps at you and sticks out from the songs without having to resort to screaming, and this actually makes the songs quite catchy. At other times, he is juxtaposed with the backup vocalist's tortured, scratchy yell/scream on the background, adding great contrast and some back-chilling moments to the CD. "Wait Don't Wait" and "Say It Like You Mean It" pretty much follow suit with a similar attitude as Brand New has on their songs, the kind of angry experimentalism that's still kept at an accessible level throughout. The only minus in the firs three songs is the low production which leaves the drums sounding kind of flat, but hey, they're an unsigned band so any production at all is a pretty good achievement, if you ask me.

The problems for Twenty30 start on the second half of the EP. I can't pinpoint exactly what happens that makes me dislike the EP, but the songs begin sound less and less relevant, interesting and catchy. The end result is a few songs that sound angry but it's as if the passion from the first half of the EP is missing - maybe the band itself agrees with me that these aren't on par with the first three songs, who knows.

In the end, "Departure EP" has its good points and bad points equally distributed. When the band is angry and passionate, they come across as a band heavily inspired by Brand New and Boy Hits Car, and hey, you can't go wrong there. But when the passion disappears, all you're left with is a bunch of nothing-saying tracks that contain little to no emotion.

Download: Pay No Attention
For the fans of: Boy Hits Car, Brand New
Listen: Myspace

Release date 27.06.2008
UNSIGNED BAND

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