“And if this fate is ours to embrace, you can come find me backstage. But I won’t be anyone’s mistake.”
I couldn’t really think of a witty comment or introduction to open this review with, so I thought a quote from track 9 ‘I stole this for you’ would do just nicely. Sung with an enormous dollop of sincerity, it exemplifies exactly what this record is all about. Although I’m going to be perfectly honest here and say that I’d heard a few good things about this before I sat down for my first listen, and thus I had high hopes. Overall, I certainly wasn’t disappointed.
Crime in Stereo have a bit of a gem here. They’ve listened carefully to Lifetime and Kid Dynamite, much the same as any other melodic hardcore band, but they’ve moved the goalposts a little with this. ‘Abre los Ojos’ and ‘For exes’ typify the progressive element to what they’re doing and it works an veritable treat; a progression which combines with some absolutely cutting lyrics to produce something which just grabs you.
Whilst the lyrics are superb, in one or two songs I’m wishing the vocals were foregrounded a bit more. The style of underproduction used on them is reminiscent of Latterman, but very occasionally they’re lost in the mix for ever so slightly longer than they need to be to create the desired effect. It’s a fairly light criticism, and possibly not even enough to warrant the mark given instead of a 4.5, but it says something about this release when that’s the only notable negative. Even the outro is interesting and well done, and most intros quickly have me reaching for the skip button. All in all, this is a great CD – one that anyone who’s remotely interested in melodic hardcore (and, I’d hasten to add, even people who aren’t) should certainly not be without.
www.myspace.com/crimeinstereo
Nitro Records
Spud