They say to not judge a book by its cover, but seriously, look at the track titles of this album. Prom Song? Needles? From the Inside? Sounds pretty cliché to me. However, I endeavored in this album because my brother’s singer suggested this on his site. He, like me, finds Silverchair and 30 Seconds to Mars better than most people. Plus, his name is Tyler. I expected a band similar to them, nothing technically challenging but an enjoyable listen. Most of all, I expected great vocals, seeing how he is a singer. I found terrible, uninspired music with even worse vocals. Depswa is just another nu-metal band that came all too late.
Depswa is:
Jeremy Penick: Lead Vocals, Guitars
Dan Noonan: Guitars, Vocals
Ryan Burchfield: Bass, Vocals
Gordon Heckaman: Drums, Samples
Depswa hails from Los Angeles, California. Well, that’s not much of a surprise. The band takes the 90s genre of grunge and mixes it with nu-metal to create a similar sound from bands like just about every other mainstream rock band. What makes this worse than a mainstream rock band is what keeps them from being mainstream. Even the lame catchy pop hooks attempted by the band fail. They attempt the typical quiet verse and loud chorus structure, but the climaxes are always underwhelming and the production of the album never exaggerates the two different feels enough. Everything is tracked at pretty much the same volume except for Penick’s vocals, which go higher than the rest of the band just as any band would track things. Gordon Heckaman, while he really does add samples, they are mostly random electronic beats that really don’t fit. He has the potential to add a lot to the band’s sound, but he never receives the opportunity. Unfortunately, Penick sings in every song from start to finish. 95% of the album is a Penick feature. Too bad his voice is incredibly lacking.
Penick sounds incredibly unoriginal. In the verses, he sings cleanly, not really holding any sort of recognizable tune, just singing off cliché lyrics at random. Upon reaching the chorus, he puts a tinge of metal screaming into his voice, but that as well is lackluster. He sounds like every other contemporary of his. As far as lyrics go, he puts out the same pseudo angry/sad lyrics. Nearly every line in his lyrics have been written before by another lyricist. A perfect example is shown in the first lyrics heard on the entire album in
This Time.
I want to hurt you, don't know why
Though I know it's not like me
I cannot help it though I try
To keep you away
The music is equally underwhelming. Overall, nearly every song takes on an ABABCB song format. The A section, always the verse, is usually headed by a clean guitar riff. The guitar riffs are particularly uninspired and sound all too familiar. The bass plays the roots of the chord progression, which he does in every section of every song. He refuses to step out of his shell and stick out every once in a while, adding a slight bit of nuance to the music. The B section unleashes drop tuned power chords put together in stereotypical chord progressions. From song to song, the choruses are indistinguishable from each other. The C section at times is a breakdown with Penick adding shouted vocals overtop. The rhythms in the breakdowns are incredibly simple, never adding any syncopation or anything the least bit interesting. Together, this creates what Nigel Lythgoe uses to describe bad dancers—a “wet blanket.”
Of course, the band steps out of their shell a slight bit to attempt something different.
Prom Song, the longest song on the album, is an attempt at a slow building song. However, this fails mainly because of the underwhelming climax at the end. Apparently, the band thinks distortion equals climax. However, the band sounds too loud from the start for this to work and the drums and bass lack the intensity to drive the guitars to a climatic level. Also, the band puts in echoed vocals to add to the “epic” feel of the song. However, this fails because both sides of the vocals struggle to carry the tune and the range of the notes. At the end of
From the Inside, the band creates something interesting; however, it is only a 10 second outro. After a large, heavy section, everything drops out for a clean guitar riff that accentuates a slide up the fretboard. The riff gives a new feel and style about the song, and if they expanded on the idea, something better could have been created. However, it lasts for a short time and really fits terribly with the rest of the song. All in all, nothing in this album impresses for more than a few seconds, and should be avoided.
However, if for some reason you are interested, the songs to check out include:
This Time
Two Angels and A Dream
From the Inside
