Review Summary: A terrible debut for a potentially good band.
For those of you who have never heard of Earshot, they are an alternative metal/ rock band from Los Angeles. Those who are familiar with the band would recognize their song “Wait” from the Madden 2005 video game. They have a few radio friendly songs and have been looked at as just an average band, which is what they are. They have, however, been compared to Tool because the lead vocalist, Will Martin, has a similar voice to that of Maynard James Keenan. They may sound like Tool in some parts of their music (vocals), but they are nothing compared to them.
Earshot is:
Will Martin - Vocals/ Guitar
Scott Kohler - Guitar
Mike Callahan - Guitar
Dieter Hartmann - Drums
Letting Go is the bands debut album which came out in 2002. Although the album didn’t do as well as the band wanted it to, their first single titled “Get Away” got a lot of attention. This brings us to the rest of the album, which I have to say is a major let down. The first track of the album, “Headstrong” is a decent way to kick things off, featuring some good guitar riffs and an almost whispering tone for the vocals, and then the song picks up with Will Martin shouting out the lyric, “Downfallen on, My Sweet Love.” It’s nothing that will blow you away, but its worth at least a listen or two. The next track, however, is when it starts to go way downhill. “Misery” features a constant guitar riff and some terrible angry vocals that make you want to gouge your eyes out. The worst song on the album by far. The next track, which is their hit single “Get Away” makes you quickly forget about the obnoxiously bad track before it. “Get Away” has a great chorus to it, “How much must I live through just to get away”, and you can tell Will Martin puts a lot of emotion into the song. It does get a little repetitive at the end and the guitars are just average for an alternative metal track, but you can see why the band made this track their first single.
The next few tracks, such as “Not Afraid” and “Ordinary Girl” are good for any rock fan. “Not Afraid” is when you really get to see the resemblance that Will Martin has to Maynard James Keenan, especially when he shouts out, “I’m not afraid”, and to me this is the standout track on the album. “Ordinary Girl” is a song that is about a guy who is not happy with his girlfriend and wants to be with someone else instead of having to put up with the crap he gets. It is another standard rock track which is similar to both “Headstrong” and “Not Afraid.”
“We Fall, We Stand” is a boring track that tries to hard to bring emotion into it, but it fails miserably. The only decent part about this track are the drums and the ok guitar solo near the end, but other than that its just another forgetful track. “Wake Up” is another boring which starts off sounding like its from a western, but later on it builds up going into the chorus which makes it seem like that the song should be heavier since Will Martin has some powerful vocals. The guitars just don’t seem to go well with the vocals in this song since it gets angrier and angrier, but you never really feel it.
The next few tracks such as “This World” and “Asleep, I Lie” are yet again, two very forgetful tracks that try to hard to bring emotion into them but the instruments just can’t seem to keep up with the vocals. The vocals are, without a doubt, the strongest part of the album. There doesn’t seem to be much diversity at all in the guitars.
“Unfortunate” is a track that goes on longer than it should which features a single guitar riff throughout most of the song. You do, however, get to hear how well Will Martins vocal range is and it is pretty impressive. It’s just another standard alternative metal track.
“My Time” closes out the album with some angry vocals and a very bad chorus that sounds like a lot of rambling. An angry track to end an album that makes me angry.
Earshot does have a lot of potential, but they don’t show much diversity at all throughout this entire album. They have a good vocalist in Will Martin, but the guitars just seem boring and unnoticeable. There just isn’t much to say about the instruments. Letting Go is not worth a buy at all. If you really want to hear some tracks from this album then download “Headstrong”, “Not Afraid”, and “Get Away” but otherwise stay away from it.
Track Ratings:
1. Headstrong - 3.5/5
2. Misery - 1/5
3. Get Away - 3.5/5
4. Not Afraid - 4/5
5. Ordinary Girl - 3/5
6. We Fall, We Stand - 2.5/5
7. Wake Up - 3/5
8. This World - 2/5
9. Asleep, I Lie - 2/5
10. Unfortunate - 1.5/5
11. My Time - 2/5
