Review Summary: not quite brand new
Even the best of formulas can only be stretched so far, as proven by The Felix Culpa. The fervor surrounding the mid-2000’s explosion of a certain brand of post-hardcore, a style that infused indie and melodramatics into the equation, just
begged that this manner of music would be strained beyond its creative limits down the road. Think: mewithoutYou, Brand New, As Cities Burn... a tried-and-true formula had been established. By the time 2010 rolls around, more than enough bands have already been caught emulating the drawn-out, lyrically-based, emotion-ridden style of music that had been deemed as safe ground -- edgier than your mainstream rock, but not quite breaching the boarders of more traditional post-hardcore styles. Here we are, down the road; and alas, the formula has been stretched too thin. In every respect, The Felix Culpa is about as ordinary as possible. If there ever was a record that should always be relegated to the back of your CD library because of its sheer unimportance, it’s
Sever Your Roots. Not to claim that the debut album is without merit, because the talent of The Felix Culpa shines through their purposelessness at times. Regrettably though, and with an absolutely atrocious album cover in tow,
Sever Your Roots is an important lesson in redundancy.
By this point, most readers are undoubtedly shaking their heads as
Sever Your Roots has, expectedly, garnered almost unanimously positive reviews. It’s a shame, but The Felix Culpa were doomed from the start.
Sever Your Roots doesn’t come close to escaping the towering shadow that Brand New, mewithoutYou, As Cities Burn, and the like have collectively constructed over them. For every positive attribute that the band portrays, other bands have done so, and done so more outstandingly. Expansive, slowly-building riffs that attempt to erupt in one, pinpointed moment of fury? Brand New coined that one in 2006. Catchy post-hardcore-
lite riffs and choruses? A City Safe From Sea nearly perfected that one last year. Vaguely passionate lyrics? As Cities Burn caught that one in 2007 while it was hot. I’ve heard that attempt at dynamism in “An Instrument” before, and The Felix Culpa’s version can’t compete with its predecessors, let alone topple them. It may irk some that comparisons to similar bands are the most prominent descriptor for
Sever Your Roots, but that’s just
it-- The Felix Culpa craft a product so derivative that their album doesn’t demand any better. Comparisons to too-like albums are the most apt way to describe
Sever Your Roots, and also telling of the album’s glaring weakness. Even when they
do hit the spot with an especially poignant moment where the murky aesthetic is effective like “Mutiny” and “New Home Life,” there’s still far too many moments of copycat clutter on
Sever Your Roots. A runtime of 1:07 is long for albums
with interesting material to share, let alone an album that seems content with simply spitting out the same restructured, commonplace shi
t.
A band can’t get away with simply emulating a standard formula and expecting success.
Something creative or unique has to be added to the equation, and The Felix Culpa forget this element, tacking 20 minutes of tedium onto their product instead. Unacceptable.
Sever Your Roots have stretched the formula that was once brand new too thin, proving there wasn’t quite enough substance in the blueprint to buttress yet another generic look-alike. Opinions have been running quite high this year on The Felix Culpa, but every indication on
Sever Your Roots points towards the album having found a very concrete niche -- in the back of your CD library behind more worthy ancestors.
