Review Summary: Drowned in the refusal to evolve.
Your average fire (think the standard yellowish/orange flame) burns at about 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit. Upgrade, however, to the blue flame, and you get over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the least. Girl On Fire’s
Revenge EP could be considered the yellow flame in this analogy: the project did have potential, but the fact that parts weren’t quite razor sharp combined with the total lack of any slower songs meant that said flame didn’t burn quite as much of an impression on your mind as it could have.
Not Broken, the band’s first full length, appears also as a chance for the band to heat things up a bit and really brand their sound upon your brain, just a blue flame would leave much more burn scars than perhaps a yellow one.
The album opens, as expected, on a caffeine-injected opener in “The Takedown”. There’s a detuned guitar riff, wah-wah pedal lead octaves, inspirational “fight the power” lyrics, and a general fast pace. On its own, it’s not necessarily a bad song, but it honestly just feels a little bit too generic. I understand that rock bands open on high-energy songs, and I’m fine with that. My favorite band does it. But my favorite band also does much more to distinguish themselves from every pump-up active rock track on the radio(even on the album that they intentionally dumbed down a bit due to subject matter), something that “The Takedown” doesn’t necessarily do. “Reminds Me Of You”, however, immediately addresses my predominant issue with the EP: the band did plenty of strong heavy rock, but there were no moments to be more reflective and really think. “Reminds Me Of You” does bear all the trappings of an active rock single (that chorus is such an earworm), but don’t let that deter you. The lyrics, vocal performance, and cleanly picked guitar all combine together to just create a beautifully pensive, melancholic atmosphere that will drag you in. This is ultimately a much stronger song than “The Takedown”. “Losing My Identity” keeps things on a mid-tempo track, opening with an absolutely gorgeous lead guitar line before the power chords come crashing in. It carries a very similar vibe to the track before it, though the greater bass presence and slightly darker chorus manage to give it its own identity. “Ready To Fight”, a late-album track, sounds most like the previous EP, mainly in the guitar-work and predominantly dark tone. It’s a much heavier track than the ones preceding, and the urgent feel does help reawaken the listener after the lull in the middle of the record. The bridge is also a nice treat. “Break These Chains” follows, similar to Hail The Villain’s “Pyro”, and it’s a pure adrenaline rush that also manages to feel much more exciting than “The Takedown”, especially the chorus. And it contains some of the only screams (which are very strong) on the record.
Sadly, the moments above are the only moments that burn hotter than the yellow embers of
Revenge. The rest of this is just to be expected: generic radio rock that simultaneously apes Linkin Park and Nickelback. Yes, the band does try at times (awkwardly including a string orchestra at one point and possessing a fairly unique vocalist), but a strong vocalist and a “good” effort will not save this disc, a disc that largely can’t even come close to the talent on the EP. A few of these songs will work for a dumbed-down take on alternative metal that’s still enjoyable (and I still hold that “Reminds Me Of You” is brilliant), but three good songs and one fantastic song don’t stack well against four borefests. Another obscure rock band, doused by the waters of the ever-changing music industry and drowned in their own refusal to evolve.
