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Evans Blue

Evans Blue

Written by: TL on 09/11/2009 15:29:50

As my voyage of discovery into American radio rock continues, the next stop on my trip is "Evans Blue", the third LP from the band of the same name. Coincidentally the third album I've recently listened to, that represents that classic American radio rock style perfectly, despite its parent band being from Canada - Just as was the case with Default and Three Days Grace.

As was also the case with those two bands, Evans Blue ply the nu-metal/post-grunge sea, although in direct comparison, the sound they deal in is of the slightly more cold and modern type, the one which brings especially bands like Cold and Hoobastank to mind. Most songs are of the well known, hard-rockin', mid-tempo kind, with muscular riffage providing a dramatic background for the lead vocalist to tell his stories, charging 90% of all notes with pathos and emotion.

And that last sentence is actually symptomatic of my problem with Evans Blue and their songwriting. You see, again compared directly to the two recently reviewed contemporaries, the songs on this album simply don't stand out anywhere near as strong. They are much, much harder to tell apart, something I think has to do mainly with two factors: One; that the song writing here is done much too cautiously, lacking mellow parts that make enough impact to balance out the loud ones, as well as curious enough details to tell one song from the next - And two; that singer Dan Chandler simply pours too much emotion into each and every word, resulting in a continued intensity that quickly starts feeling flat.

Still though, "Evans Blue" is still solid enough to avoid either annoying the listener, or standing out like an example of particularly poor taste, and especially on the few tracks that do lift their heads slightly above the rest, "Bulletproof" and "I Blame You" for instance, the music does inspire that familiar feeling of wanting to bang your head or jump around. I guess it's another notch in the belt of Canadian quality, and it forces me to realize, that this band still won't be the one I need as an excuse to bury this genre of music all together in a review. Sad for me and my elitist beliefs, but good for Evans Blue and any casual appreciator of the nu-metal/post-grunge sound. Check out the two mentioned bands first though, and then if you still want more, then there's no reason not to get "Evans Blue".

Download: Bulletproof, I Blame You
For The Fans Of: Hoobastank, Cold, TRUSTcompany, Three Days Grace
Listen: myspace.com/evansblue

Release Date 23.06.2009
Sounds + Sights