Review Summary: Far more than the sum of it's rather overused parts.
The world of poppy, emotionally-charged rock songs directed primarily at teens is an exceedingly crowded place these days and it has led bands to do various strange things to get attention. Many have added screaming, some have turned to electronics and synthesizers, some have looked to stage musicals for inspiration and others have just adopted exceedingly strange hairstyles. But we'll forgive them because unless they're incredibly good (or have a girl singer) bands who deal in this type of music who don't do this will quickly drop into the morass of floppy fringes and whiny voices that inspires hatred in so many. It's just not good enough to write competent, poppy songs anymore.
Or is it? With their debut album A Verse Unsung may have found the key. They don't do anything particularly different. Their singer sings somewhat towards the top of his range, their guitars are loud and rely on some basic chords and their lyrics certainly contain few devastating insights beyond the fact that sometimes life don't feel too good and that often relationships are the reason. They have the obligatory slow song with piano at the end of the album. According to Allmusic they sound like Taking Back Sunday, Hawthorne Heights and My Chemical Romance (not entirely accurate but there's a certain resonance). They have all the hallmarks of the generic pop/rock band. And yet somehow they reach the peculiar state of being better than ordinary without having done anything out of the ordinary. There's a couple of factors that help them in this. Jake Scherer has an incredibly passionate and clear voice and he manages to capture a certain strained quality without sacrificing the ability to really belt out the lyrics. The band has a mastery of timing that gives their songs a pleasant air even when nothing particularly interesting is happening.
Most of all though they sound like they're having fun when they're playing. They sound like they're playing rock and roll. None of the band members were over 20 when they made this album and it shows in the incredible sense of energy and sheer enthusiasm for what they're doing contained in their songs. Even when he's singing lines such as 'This road has been so long sometimes I feel I can’t go on' Scherer's voice is full of such infectious energy instead of feeling down you feel like jumping around and headbanging. This isn't a poppy, shallow sense of energy, but a rocky stream of raw youth. The feeling is encapsulated in their catchiest and best song Six Strings "Johnny count to five they said 'Hey boy what you play ain't music'/They all told him why 'Too loud too fast' too loud? **** that' "I've been playing rock'n'roll, that music save my soul/And if I die, six strings right by my side". This vitality creeps into every song, even the last song 'The Fall Pt.2' somehow manages to be despondent and lively simultaneously. The guitar rarely strays from thunderous, pounding chords but this perfectly fits the mood. This is enhanced by the frequent gang vocals and anthemic choruses where Scherer's voice really shines as he strains it to the hilt and I imagine it sounds fantastic live. There's a welcome lack of gimmicks (screaming, unnecessary electronics, etc), which would be ill suited to such a basic rock sound.
This is enough to make me overlook the flaws of the album and praise it as great but it's not enough to really elevate it beyond that. Too many of the songs sound the same and the musicianship and lyrics are carried by the energy but have little inspiration. The best songs such as 'Resolve To Fight' and 'Six Strings' are great examples of pure rock but songs such as 'Last Regret' drag the album down into typical depressive pop/rock territory. But there's something great here and if the band can keep this and improve on other aspects of what they do then their next album is going to be something amazing.
