Cinematic Sunrise
A Coloring Story Book And A Long-Playing

3.0
good

Review

by Athom EMERITUS
August 25th, 2008 | 27 replies

Release Date: 2008 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Enjoyable enough not to be horrible.

When the name Craig Owens is mentioned there are two basic reactions that can take place. If you are a fourteen year old in a Bring Me the Horizon tee-shirt, your girlfriend's jeans, and cant wait for the return of the Warped Tour there's a good chance that you treat that name with the same level of respect and reverence that is normally reserved for someone with talent. If you are anyone else you'll cringe as your brain conjures up that one time when your friend put on Chiodos' Bone Palace Ballet on a drive to the beach and your spending the next 40 minutes clawing at the car window like a dog trying to escape from it's cage at the pound. When I was given Cinematic Sunrise's debut A Coloring Story Book And A Long-Playing Record I was gearing up for the latter reaction but to my surprise it turned out to be a generic, yet for the most part enjoyable, pop album.

Right off the bat it's obvious that Cinematic Sunrise play power-pop inspired radio ballads that come off as a cross between Something Corporate and All American Rejects. Nothing new is brought to the table with the instrumentation but thats not the point. When the band clicks A Cinematic Sunrise manage to pull off songs you can't help to nod your head to. Unfortunately the band only really clicks on the more upbeat tracks on the album. Our Honey Moon At Weston Hills is the perfect example of what the band could be if it left behind the hit or miss attempts at balladry that hinder the disc. Its constantly driving beat and catchy octaves create the perfect background for Craig Owen's voice that for the first time doesn't seem that annoying.

The one place where the band falls flat are the two piano ballads on the EP. The music presented on these tracks is horrendously banal, uninspired, and boring. The simple piano that is showcased for an attempt at intimacy and Craig's overpowering and unfitting vocals create what sounds like the bastard child of a junior high talent show and karaoke at at your local bar. Even though there are only two tracks with this style, with only six songs on the EP they are hard to overlook.

With A Coloring Story Book And A Long-Playing Record a Cinematic Sunrise have made an EP that you probably wont really remember after it ends, but while its playing offers a mostly enjoyable listen. And sure, this wont really make any new fans out of those who despise Owen's other works, but if they decide to drop the ballads they could easily score a hit with the Warped Tour crowd.

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