Review Summary: I Am Committing a Sin offers many elements and dimensions to a relatively untapped original sound. This is a great start to a promising career
IACAS, hailing from Burlington, Ontario, consists of a collection of key members from surrounding local bands relative to Southern Ontario. My friends and I were certain IACAS would take off in a heart beat, and these post-hardcore/rock enthusiasts have taken the Canadian music scene by storm. Recently signed to Verona Records in spring of 2009, they are being quickly prepped for success. Their most recent accomplishment would be obtaining a tour across the country accompanying
Silverstein, Ten Second Epic, and Madina Lake, showing they certainly have a lot to offer in their young years, releasing debut e.p, entitled
“Grow Past Their Promises”. Showing potential, charisma, and a knack for creating fun choppy melodies with flare, IACAS is poised to hit underground music success within the near future.
Right off the bat, it’s evident that the vocals of IACAS are a shining star amongst the many musical qualities this band has to offer. Vocalist
Daniel (last name unavailable) starts off the e.p with
Maxims, showing a mere glimpse of what is to expected from him throughout. Putting his soaring voice on display, his range and control of his chords are brazenly impressive. More often then not, he is the center-piece of the melody and song structure. The notes he hits with such power and accuracy are breath-taking doses of musical euphoria. Not to be under looked are his full and throaty screams/yells, giving the band their younthful appeal and edge; quite a quality to bear within his arsenal of musical attributes. He is easily the most marketable and accessible member of the band. He works excellently as a front-man, as his energy can be felt genuinely both in the context of live, and recorded music. This duality of his screaming and singing, exchanged with extraordinary fluency-though not yet refined in his younger years-bring liveliness to the music. The production on the vocals is in-extensive, giving it a raw feeling. The cracks in his voice and the fluctuation of his tone, weaving in and out of tune with such purpose and drive really brings the sound alive. Occasionally, however, this technique of tone fluctuation is used as a crutch, being abused and misused; inevitable immaturities in their own right. This is fairly common throughout most of the e.p, but is miss-used most distastefully in the second half of
“Punk Boss”. Adversely, where the band breaks from this formula, in the intro of
“Apostasy Now”, it comes out forced and awkward. Exemplary highs of this formula would be attributed deservingly to one of the strongest tracks on the e.p,
“Arrows”. Where the song starts to slow down, it keeps its pace with strumming, building up slowly until Daniel’s commanding scream finally climaxes in the bridge. The buildup of distortion and flashy cymbal use make the section particularly delicious, while the tempo never actually picks up, making the mood feel constricted, claustrophobic, and antsy; A strikingly powerful use of atmosphere and genre defying diversity. The Balance between the two should be something the band strives to progress on, however, as the tedious nature of his vocals start to erode on the enjoyability of the album by the time the closer
“Grow Past Their Promises” comes around.
The rest of the band is sufficiently proficient in technicality. The band capitalizes its edgy sound on multiple and diverse time signatures, often breaking up standard timing with choppy breaks, used to add flavor to their other-wise conventional rock/post-hardcore melodies. This stop-start formula has become some-what of a trademark where the band is well known. The band manages to not let this hinder magnificent musical phrases, and chord progressions, usually allowing them to repeat enough times, without interruption, to really sink in. This is not always the case however, where certain riffs seem to be sprinkled in a few too many times, becoming repetitive.
The guitars play many intriguing and complimentary riffs and melodies, never getting stale or feeling forced. The real irregularity within this band is the melodic appeal of the rhythm section. The percussion is more often than not offering ingenious fills, driving toe-tapping-technicality rather then tempo-tamers as conventionality calls for. Examples of this are abundant, but are truly invaluable in standout track
“Arrows”, starting off the song with an incredibly catchy beat, also providing the landscape for the groovy
“Punk Boss”. Adding even more unconventionally pleasantries is the surprising amount of dense lead-melodies provided by the bass, rarely sticking to the “retarded guitar” role. This is done appealingly by having the bass pick up melodies you would consider more suitable than a guitar to take, due to the riffs ‘groovy nature’. The bass doesn’t forget its purpose however, keeping rhythm when appropriate while the drums are off on one of their tangents, or sticking to a solid undertone while the guitar holds its own on the melodic front.
The album primarily falters on its relatively immature song writing. Sometimes feeling quite empty, or boring at parts. Also strangely enough, the tempo is kept quite steady throughout, never reaching a monumental speed to accentuate the abundance of dynamics used. Sometimes it feels as though the band really leans on the vocalist, failing to create a compelling vocal melody, or chord progression to work on, while the vocalist just starts screaming or holds a note for no real reason. Even worse, these parts are always incredibly uninspired, adding nothing to the grand scheme of things in regards to a singular concept throughout the song. The stop-start feel gives some songs the feeling of “part by part by part”, instead of a cohesive unit throughout. These glitches are generally not consistent throughout any song, as each holds its own, and has its own high, however.
I Am Committing a Sin has accomplished much within a year’s time and deservingly so. I strongly urge anyone who is interested at all by my review to check out their MySpace for a taste of their sound, ([L]http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=473 7982[L]), and if you like what you hear, tell a friend, or order their CD. You are sure to be hearing big things from this 5 Piece sometime within the near future. When all is taken into consideration, there is plainly a lot to be taken in from this band, providing an enjoyable listen to anyone who cares to take the time to hear one of the most promising up-and-coming artists. I Am Committing a Sin offers many elements and dimensions to a relatively untapped, original sound. This is a great start to a promising career. Kudos IACAS.
