Review Summary: Dead By April are once again doing what they do best: nothing.
Dead By April are not as unique or good as they probably think they are, but it matters not. Their radio-humping material is perfect for newcomers to music who will one day regret listening to the band, and that’s the extent of their power (unless you are like me and sometimes cannot resist listening to guilty pleasures, but I wouldn’t recommend it). If you’ve heard their debut album before, you probably know exactly what this is going to sound like: alt metal with a tendency for mundane, metalcore styled riffs, splattered screams, slopped synthesizers, and a bucket full of goopy inspiration from teeny bopper boy bands like ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys. As expected, the band haven’t budged one iota from their formula, and why would they? It sells albums and probably gets them laid, so they might as well continue making their boring music. Heaven help us.
Imagine psytrance. Now imagine those synth lines being laced with metalcore breakdowns. The result is a never-ending onslaught of synths that completely drown out the band (especially the lead guitar). This is literally the only musical evolution found in the album besides having a new singer. Having a new singer doesn’t change anything either, because Zandro sounds eerily similar to their previous vocalist. Also, his vocals are geared for young girls, as he sings the heart-throbbing “yeeeah” and “heeey” whenever possible. Additionally, autotune dominates the singer’s voice to the point of simultaneous frustration and hilarity (for example, the chorus of ‘Incomparable’). Dead By April aren’t winning any points from their soulless approach to music.
Even though the melodies in the album can be nice, that’s the only appeal of the album. Overproduction is their nemesis and murders the crap out of any potential their soundscape once had. The main guitar is horribly compressed and has a generally poor tone, the drums are badly mixed, the synths are too loud, the bass might as well not exist, etc. For a band that is so focused on smooth, accessible, throw-away melodies, the overproduction disintegrates their already destroyed creation. Perhaps the horrible, murky noise was their attempt at sounding more metal, which would be an excuse at the very least, but they can’t even claim that.
Incomparable fails on all levels.
