Kessler

I Know Your Voice

Written by: PP on 15/08/2008 17:26:48

Haha, Kessler couldn't have decided on a more suitable album title for their debut album "I Know Your Voice". Ironically, of course, as on the opening track "Love Is A Liars" (discounting the 14 second "Whispers" intro, a pretentious suggestion that everyone is talking about Kessler in the pop punk scene), that's word-by-word the thought inside this reviewer's mind, because vocalist Mike Mitchell sounds note by note like Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy. Except he can't reach notes as high or portray his singing as characteristically as Stump does. This reviewer also experienced an extremely lengthy fight with self to give you guys a fair review of this band, instead of merely passing this as the review.

Jokes aside, Kessler really are that generic pop punk band that copies Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco (yes, they are now two bands in my book, the good one of the debut and the boring one without the !) without coming anywhere close to them in quality. Yes, a few songs have catchy choruses, like the aforementioned opening track and "Bravo", that sounds unmistakably like Cartel/The Academy Is/All Time Low. Although these tracks bring less original ideas to pop punk than Microsoft to the IT industry these days, they're still tracks that no pop punk fan is likely to have a problem with singing along to. But it's the boring ass ballads that really destroy this album and underline the GENERIC BORING POP PUNK tag that surrounds Kessler. "Where Are You" almost puts me to sleep, "Outside Your Window" sounds so much like mainstream Keane that I'm about to vomit, and keyboard-infused "Tear Me Down" doesn't do any better despite its disco beat in the chorus. Somehow it doesn't come as a surprise at all that everyone in Kessler quit their jobs in Glasgow, UK and moved to Los Angeles with dollar signs in their eyes, hoping to forge a career in the US, where bands like them often dominate the airwaves.

To avoid sounding too harsh, I've gotta give the band some credit for "Perfect", which is quite a good song for a Ballad, though still a bit too mainstream and boring for my taste. Nonetheless, if the vocal melody is stuck in your head even while not listening to the album, the band has definitely had a positive effect on you.

Anyhow, I don't feel the need to go into much more detail about the rest of the record, I'm sure by this point you've gotten a flavor of what it'll sound like. If you can't get enough of Patrick Stump and Mr. Urie, you should probably check out Kessler too. But don't go in with high expectations.

5

Download: Perfect, Bravo, Love Is War
For the fans of: Fall Out Boy, Panic At The Disco, The Academy Is
Listen: Myspace

Release date 08.07.2008
YMA Records

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