WEBSITE: http://www.thealmost.com/MYSPACE: http://myspace.com/thealmost
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/thealmostrules
MERCH: http://thealmostmerch.com/
Monster, Monster marks the release of the 2nd full length album from The Almost, a band that began as a side project from Underoath's Aaron Gillespie. Looking back on what was a simple, glossy debut, The Almost have contrasted that with a grittier, more organic take on their established sound. Monster, Monster is a pseudo-southern collection of straight-up rock/pop songs that disappoint only in that they provide little variety.
The album kicks off like any powerful rock album would, with a punchy first track proceeded by a slew of similar but not as aggressive follow up tracks. The songs are good. They get stuck in your head, because well, that's what these guys are paid to do. But, the truth is I'm tired of this ride. If you like The Almost (and I generally do) then their new repertoire will no doubt have you repeatedly visiting their decked out myspace and checking out Aaron's charming culinary videos. Granted, the band is performing as a band here, which sounds odd, but Southern Weather was a solo effort by Gillespie, manning every instrument in the studio and allowing some friends to recreate it on stage. So, instead of what sounded like an articulately, though exquisitely, sequenced collection of songs now sounds like a snapshot of a youthful, energetic pop/rock band with enough imperfection and nuance to keep me from rolling my eyes.
The Almost's Monster, Monster reminds me a lot of a few other, recent, markedly successful records. I reviewed Sherwood's Qu last month with little enthusiasm for almost all the same reasons: I used to get CDs at a store and wear them down to their bare elements from repetitive play. We all did that. And, while I don't mean to dwell on this point too much because it's the same old schtick, the fact is that commercial music really does lose some value in comparison to less successful equivalents. The Almost are good musicians and adequate song writers and I, by no means, fault them for the production and release of Monster, Monster but I've got enough safe, typical rock music in my life. I'm looking for a band to take musical risks, try something new, and to put energy into branching out musically instead of worrying what their next tattoo should be.
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