Review Summary: Even if it tastes the same
Regardless of his personality, how he treated fans, or his drug problems, there is no question that Emarosa’s former frontman Jonathan “Diamond Monroe” Craig had some serious pipes. Their debut full length
Relativity was a stunner and the self-titled sophomore effort was a refinement in both songwriting and production. Alas, the band grew tired of Jonny’s antics and parted ways with him in 2011.
Three years later, the band has returned with
Versus. The relatively unknown Bradley Walden is at the helm, and his performance is the driving force in most of the tracks.
Versus mostly lacks the bombastic vocal or instrumental performance of the group’s past records, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The opening track, “People Like Me, We Just Don’t Play” is very stereotypical Emarosa. A steady but energetic drum beat covered in slightly distorted chord strumming leads into the vocal hook, and then is overlayed with a lead guitar lick. The chorus sees Walden add some more energy and feeling, and he sounds good. “A Hundred Crowns” starts out with a staccato riff but quickly shifts to an R&B vibe, and ends up feeling a little disjointed.
Fortunately, after the first few tracks the band attempts to grow out of the post-hardcore roots and engage more in the alt-rock and R&B genres. Tracks like “Say Hello To The Bad Guy”, “Gold Dust” and “Cliff Notes” are more reminisicient of early Maroon 5 than Dance Gavin Dance. Both have Walden crooning in Levine’s style (although in a lower register), and the former track maintains very stripped down instrumentation for the majority of the song. The album’s lead single “Mad” is a strong track for transitioning from their “old” sound to this one, retaining the familiar post-hardcore verse chugging and a chorus with a belted hook and a high-flying guitar lead.
Versus has Emarosa coming off as having an identity crisis. The genre blending is a positive leap forward and produces some interesting (and a few genuinely good) things, but they haven’t quite nailed down how to mix the “Rise” sound in with elements of Maroon 5 and Coldplay. The biggest problem the record will face is not appeasing old Emarosa or traditional post-hardcore fans, and struggling to reach other audiences.
Versus is too good (and does enough interesting things) to be labelled as generic and boring, but doesn’t do anything well enough to be called great.
