Review Summary: Lost at Sea, albeit nothing original, is a pretty album bogged down by terrible lyrics and chugging guitars. Don't go into it expecting much.
2Cents seem to be a band of clichés and angst-filled lyrics. This is the most average band you could possibly find. Imagine that you'd take the feel of radio-friendly alt/nu-metal, with thrash/punk speed, and combine it with your average metalcore album, with a somewhat southern twist. The clichés are fairly obvious just from the song titles:
Victims of Pop Culture (a song about the clones of...pop culture) and
A Song About Darrel Abbott (which, you guessed it...Dimebag Darrel tribute). Add the last, a lack of respect for any mainstream act (mostly Fall Out Boy), and you've got your typical “metalhead” album.
My main complaint about the album is its obviously atrocious lyrics. They flat out suck.
“
Placing words in places
Backing dreams in cases
Sending all the vultures to relocate the stars
Gold and platinum plated
Actually spray painted
Ever revolving never evolving plastic industry”
Or
“
Crowd control
No one will ever know
Lives in lies and breed with eyes
That just wait now”
These are just a little bit of their clearly uninspired and angst-fueld lyrics, as it'd take up too much space to copy and paste the entire albums lyric sheet.
Instrumentally, the album's strength lies with the drums. The drummer/lead singer Adam plays incredible fills and fiery double bass sections all while managing to spew his (terrible) lyrics from his mouth. He does both excellent, with a slight hardcore rasp to his voice, and never sounding too forced. The chorus', even though it can be painful to listen to the words, are catchy. The beats are very well crafted and coincide with the guitars well. The fills are well-placed and surprisingly good. The guitars, though, are another story.
The guitars aren't exactly a high point. There are a few solos on here (Steak Dinner), but largely the guitar riffs are lacking. Their pretty much a typical chug-fest of muddy distortion. There are no highlights from the guitar side of the album, lacking anything that would be considered unique. The bass fairs a little better, though it's still lacking, especially considering this is just one massive chug-fest.
There's not much I can really say about this album. It's average, and you've heard it before. It's like recent metalcore had a baby with everything that is good about nu-metal and they sped it up a bit. Songs like
Crowd Control and
The Wedding Dress are great songs, yet lack a certain flare of guitar and are almost ruined by the lyrics. Another example is the song
Mark of my Pen, which is a slower song that changes things up when its needed, but I don't think I need to mention where exactly the song goes wrong.
I was entering this album with a much higher expectation after seeing them live. They really are a band built for the stage. Adam's hilarious personality (think of a less-dressy Adam D. of
Killswitch fame) and their presence really don't show on this album.
