How do you describe nothing? It's a bit of a weird question, but if you think about it, it's actually a tad difficult to explain. It's not an object, it's not a sense, or a feeling. So what is it? A combination of the words ‘no’ and ‘thing’, the dictionary states nothing is “not anything; no single thing”. It's a word, but maybe it's just that: a word. Enter Full Devil Jacket’s second album, ‘Valley of Bones’; a collection of songs that don't make much of an impact at all.
Coming from the state of Tennessee, these guys are described as a nu-metal band. Formed at around 1999, there was quite a time gap between this and their debut. Since then, they haven't released a record for fifteen years. Being nu-metal/alternative rock, you will hear the stereotypical genre traits found within this type of music: the down-tuned guitars, less than complex percussion, with vocals. What the verdict on this recipe you ask? Well, there's nothing much to say.
You see, a good piece of music inspires. Makes you feel something. Gets you to move in some way. Whenever ‘Valley of Bones’ finds its way into my CD player, it fails to grab my full attention. I never have that urge to go out of my way to hear this, because it feels like an act already replicated by better bands before it. It's like shopping for a car and buying a base model Toyota Corolla. Sure it's decent enough, but there's no feel to it. It's not exactly a head turner, and you'd rather divert your attention elsewhere. Not to mention, it's a common piece of appliance.
The opening track does not do this album justice. The opener, ‘Killers’ destroys the potential good first impression of an exciting road ahead. Starting with a quiet, repeating guitar riff, and a repetitive saying of the word sickness, this track tries to create a crater on the wall, but throws a beach ball at it. What is this supposed to be? It felt more like an interlude more than an actual song. The title track improves upon this. The tempo becomes more upbeat, the instrumentals get heavier, and the vocals turn more aggressive. After that? Congratulations, you passed by the only memorable track in the album. The rest of the road ahead contains generic ballads and inferior versions of the title track.
Yet, at the same time, its not like I absolutely hate this album, or this band in general. The guitars weren't played extremely terrible, nor did the singers voice didn't piss me off. But at the same time, it's not much different from other peers in its class. Due to the inability to differentiate themselves from the herd, the album felt like being stuck in an empty room more than strolling around at the local carnival. It feels like the entire recording relied on hooks to get the listeners attention. They ended up casting their fishing poles on the shallow part of the lake, and because of this, no fish took the bait. Prior to the record release, the vocalist was dealing with some personal issues, so getting this piece of work out there must have saved his life. Despite the negative critique, he gets commendable points from me.
In review, it took five paragraphs to argue that this record is not much. It's hard to explain, because there isn't much to talk about. There's nothing to say other than the fact it's your usual rock album. Not laughably bad, but you might as well pay more attention to the other bands in this genre. Even though ‘Valley of Bones’ gets a somewhat low score, the envision of major improvement is possible. I tried on enjoy this album, but it did nothing for me. This could change in the future; but for now, this is just an average record with little creative substance. Feel free to check this out if you'd like, but personally, I'm going to go on a limb, and say the album is literally what it's called: a ‘Valley of Bones’. Other than that, nothing more needs to be said.
