We all make mistakes. When these faults transpire, all you can hope to do is correct them and move on. Then, if you are lucky, the mistakes won’t follow you into your future. Thankfully, in music, most errors can be corrected with the click of a button or the snapping in half of a disc. However, before you take such drastic measures, you of course want to make certain that the said album is absolutely horrid and doesn’t deserve the 12cm x 12cm space that it consumes. In my case, I can look back and live with my decision to rid my ears of the atrocity that is
Consequence.
The Crash Motive formed in the University of Delaware under their original name, Omnisoul, where they caught the attention of small local radio stations with their hit “Waiting (Save Your Life).” The song went on to be featured in the Fantastic 4 soundtrack, where it garnered a relatively significant number of digital downloads. As their name began to surface as an up-and-coming artist, they released another hit single “Not Giving Up”, which was featured on the Madden 07 soundtrack. For all intents and purposes, Omnisoul was and will always be a “soundtrack band.” However, after a name change and the landing of several larger gigs, The Crash Motive felt increasing pressure to release a debut album. The results are extremely underwhelming, providing very little in the way of quality new material.
The album kicks off in a front-loaded manner, immediately showcasing
Consequence’s three strongest songs. Unfortunately, two of them have already been covered (“Waiting” and “Not Giving Up”), so one’s attention is automatically focused to “No Tomorrow, Just Tonight.” The song is actually fairly uplifting, with an anthem-like chorus and optimistic lyrics. However, the vocals teeter on the line between Adam Levine (of Maroon 5) and nails on a chalkboard. As with some other songs on the album that showcase potential, the abysmal vocals keep The Crash Motive from even ascending into the middle of the pack. The closest the album comes to being innovative is the eerie, paranoid “My Own.” It starts with some slow and irregular sounding strokes of the piano, before delving into a revenge-ridden topic about betrayal that is refreshingly dark in contrast to the album’s annoyingly cheerful aura. Halfway through the song they change the time signature, which is enough to blow away any expectations conceived by the listener during the nine tracks they endured just to get to that point. All in all though, “My Own” and “No Tomorrow, Just Tonight” emerge as a clear winners from this record.
As for the remainder of The Crash Motive’s debut,
Consequence faces all the major flaws that plague pop music today and features none of the positive aspects needed to overcome them. The album is repetitive, extremely basic from a technical standpoint, and it isn’t even very catchy. As I already mentioned, the vocals are the biggest downfall of all. Derek Fuhrmann’s attempts at falsetto in the ballads “Amy” and “Good For Me” are dreadful and you may actually find yourself wishing for Maroon 5, which is never a good thing. Songs that attempt to be epic (“Believe It”, “Things That Could Be Said”) fall flat, half of the tolerable songs are not new material, and at a mere 12 songs
Consequence is a remarkable chore to listen to. The Crash Motive still have their place in the occasional movie soundtrack, but to sit and listen to an entire record of them becomes too much to expect of anyone.
With that said, I do not regret purchasing
Consequence on that lonesome day four years ago. With all mistakes come new wisdom, and knowledge that can be shared with others to prevent them from falling into the same trap. Even if you are a fan of The Crash Motive, you are better off downloading the few decent tracks this has to offer than taking on this 50 minute monstrosity. As for everyone else, heed my words of advice and avoid this album entirely.
