SOS

Adult Situations

Written by: PP on 27/03/2009 12:31:53

The funny thing about New York City is that while it's the largest city in all of America, its music scene today seldom produces the same kind of vibrant, varying bands as a town like Gainesville in Florida or the whole of Southern California. You have the older bands like Madball, Sick Of It All, H2O and so on, but I'm hard pressed to think of any successful up-and-coming rock/metal bands originating from the city in the past five years or so. Maybe the metropolis has become too big for artistic ambition to flourish, who knows. Anyway, to the point: SOS, hailing from New York, have been attempting to change that pattern for the last decade or so, releasing albums regularly to the extent that they are now on their fifth full length, "Adult Situations".

But I can't say these guys are anywhere near of being the 'next big thing' from New York. They play a brand of garage rock n roll where it's easy to hear influences of a wide range of different genres; there's bits and pieces from Sick Of It All, Alice In Chains, and Queens Of The Stone Age among others. Their vocals sound like those you often hear in stoner rock while the instruments lean more on the garage & rock n roll, occasionally throwing in a pinch of hardcore. But dominating my feelings of the album as a whole is that there's a transparent attempt of forcing a dangerous rock n roll vibe through groovy guitar lines and rowdy vocals, but none of it seems authentic enough to matter. The whole sound is artificial--dare I say amateurish--and it's difficult to believe "Adult Situations" to be their fifth album already. Usually bands at this point in their career are at least able to display some degree of convincingness, regardless of genre, but not here. The choruses sound forced, the groovy riffs aren't really that interesting after the initial listens, and many of the verse vocals appear annoying. I can't say I could sing better myself, but this vocalist really isn't cut out for the role he's in, as he fails to churn out memorable vocal harmonies song after song.

There isn't much else to say about SOS. If you like rock n roll, you might wanna check these guys out, but I doubt that they'll become a part of your regular rotation considering the vast amount of much better bands out there. Five albums down the line and the sound still doesn't 'click' with the listener? I have a hard time seeing it ever will, based on this record alone.

4

Download: Hypoxyphilia, Walk Of Shame
For the fans of: Queens Of The Stone Age, Alice In Chains
Listen: Myspace

Release date xx.xx.2008
316 Productions

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