Review Summary: Edgewater makes it clear with the release of We're Not Robots... that they will not compromise their sound. It’s a sound that is purely Edgewater (an angry Edgewater), and it is good.
After their first major release with Wind-Up records Edgewater found themselves between a rock and a hard place. Edgewater was told that they needed to change some things about their sound, and of course with Wind-Up giving Edgewater a taste of what it was like to be more than just a local band, they decided to **** Wind-Up and play the music that they want to play.
So now we find ourselves with We’re Not Robots…, and although it’s the same Edgewater that we heard on South of Sideways (their previous album), there are quite a few changes in this album. First off it is truly hard not to catch all the anger and frustration packed in the album, while on South of Sideways anger was just not a central theme. Also there is quite a bit of profanity and cursing, at least compared to their last album which had little to none. None of this is really bad, but I was considerably surprised when I first popped this in my cd player.
We’re Not Robots… does seem to be a little short (it runs about thirty-six minutes with its ten tracks), and with all the tracks giving off at least a bit of anger, they can run together and seem pretty similar. Another drawback to the album is the lack of guitar solos. There are a couple, one towards the end of the first minute of S.O.B. that is about fifteen to twenty seconds (not really sure to count it), and one towards the end of Digging for Sounds that is not too shabby, but that’s it. Also, on what would seem the majority of the songs the bass just follows the guitar and is not very audible, but tracks like Engage, Apples & Oranges, and S.O.B. feature the bass quite nicely in some catchy runs. The drums on the album are reasonably pronounced on most of the tracks, and while they don’t seem to me anything special, they’re definitely nothing to complain about. They keep the songs moving, hold everything together just fine, and for the most part are a bit more than simple beats (nothing too complicated however).
There is a lot of energy just pouring out of this album. Out of all ten of the tracks eight of them are notably fast-paced. Digging For Sounds, and S.O.S. are by no means ballads, but they do slow down a bit compared to the other tracks, Digging For Sounds even moves away from the whole anger scene and gives off a nice almost lighthearted mood and ends the album on a hopeful very positive note. My favorite tracks though, are probably S.O.B. and Rock Is Dead which are the hardest and angriest songs We’re Not Robots… has to offer. S.O.B. starts with a nice punch to the face with Matt Moseman (lead singer) screaming “YOU SON OF A B****” and the rest of the song talks about all the problems with this person and ends with more of the beginning. Yes, just an ending of Matt repeatedly screaming “YOU SON OF A B****”. While Rock Is Dead starts of pretty mellow with a nice little guitar riff and then a drum roll, then into a verse, and once you hit the chorus the song explodes “F*** THIS, Trying to break us down, THIS S***, its going to save us” Moseman screams. I must admit the chorus on this one does get repeated a bit more than some of their other songs, but I don’t get tired of it. Towards the end it slows down a bit calming everything down and leads nicely into S.O.S. Engage is another one of my more favorite tracks. It starts of with an electronic sounding distorted guitar (if that makes sense). And then the bass and the other guitar come in. The bass really shines on this one, being totally audible and doing its own thing. This track is a little mellower than either S.O.B. or Rock Is Dead. The main highlight on this track is that it features the bass doing its own thing instead of just following the guitars.
All in all I think this is a great album. It definitely has a more solid and unified sound than their previous release. I know it sounds like this is just an album giving Wind-Up the finger while kicking them in the groin, but there is more to it. There is definitely some positive, well it is mostly just anger and telling wind- up off. I’ve seen some apparent improvements in their music so far and I think if they continue to improve they could be something really special.
“We will be what we want to be,” says a steadfast Matt Moseman. “We’re a rock band! We’re not circus monkeys on a chain. Fame and glory isn’t what we’re after. This is our life. We have to be able to say ’yes’ to ’Is this going to make me feel proud of what I do?’”(This quote from www.edgewaterband.com/about/bio).
Favorite Tracks
-Rock Is Dead
-S.O.S.
-Engage
-S.O.B.
If you are interested in this the whole album is up for listen at www.edgewaterband.com/media/music
This is my first review so feel free to leave some criticism.
