Review Summary: Mediocrity makes me feel mediocre.
In the world of power metal, and metal in general, Daniel Heiman is a vocal deity. He is one of those one in a million singers for the genre. His soaring vocals and screams in songs such as Highlander (The One) and Cry of a Restless Soul has never been matched in terms of sheer vocal prowess. Being in a band with an enormous amount of talent like Lost Horizon made the band into one of the leaders of the new power/prog metal movement. The sweeping riffs, galloping bass, and frantic drums to add to the vocals made the band stand out. In 2004 Daniel decided to leave Lost Horizon and form Heed. Now Heed was a very talented band. A mainstream like power metal band, they actually showed potential. Well in September of 2008, Heed was "put on ice" and Daniel decided to just focus on his new band Lavett. Described by the band as a "musical rock nirvana," Lavett hopes to change the way we look at music. Do They?
Absolutely Not.
Lavett released their first EP
When the World Caves In on March 8th, 2009. Aside from Daniel, this band is extremely tedious and boring. This is mainstream rock at its finest with synthesizers thrown in for good measure. Since this is an EP, there are only four songs. The self-titled opener starts off with a cool drum beat. We are then treated with a digitized effect on Daniel's voice. This is a definite no no. This is honestly the only stand out for the song. The rest is boring; even Daniel's voice is not that amazing. The other true "rock" song on here is
Crash and Burn. Again there is absolutely nothing special on the song. Well maybe the horrendous lyrics of "I've got pain, like a cancer in my brain" can count as something special. The same exact thing can be said for
For the Rest of My Days too.
So all three songs I have described so far are boring and predictable. I bet you are all asking "Why is this a 2.5?" Well one song is actually really good; the song is
Don't Leave Me This Way. The lyrics are silly but the rest of the song is a good mid-tempo rock song. The simplicity of the instruments in the background give a nice touch to the sooth and emotional vocals of Daniel, who never goes into that higher register that he usually goes to. The best part of the song is definitely the chorus and the little spoken interlude type part into another chorus. Definitely the best song on the disk.
Lavett's
When the World Caves In is definitely not a "musical rock nirvana." Aside from the last song I mentioned, the rest of the EP is quite boring and painful to listen to at times. Daniel Heiman set up such high expectations for himself when he was in Lost Horizon. His guest appearance with Crystal Eyes and hist last band Heed brought his divinity down a couple notches. Lavett brings him down to earth with the rest of us. I have communicated with the band through Myspace and I asked when we would see more of the insane vocals of Daniel Heiman. I got the response of "We have started working on our first full length album. Consider these first songs as a prelude to what is to come. Cheers!" I with to the music gods that their first album sounds nothing like this. But while I wait for that to come out, I got stuck with this average piece of music. Quite a shame to see my favorite vocalist stuck in this situation. I love Daniel Heiman, but I can't listen to a mediocre band with an above average vocalist who sounds mediocre.
