Labels: Workshop
Review by: Andy Malcolm
I really like MCJ. One of the merry gang of Pennsylvania emo rock bands, a long with Bedford, the Jazz June and the Grey AM, that reside within my record collection.
The band have changed a little since their last record, ‘Wound Up Down South’. They’ve gotten a bit more agressive, kicking out some more rockin’, pumpin’ riffs, played over energetic songs that are similar in structure to their older ones but with added Get Up Kids influences. Unfortunately, it seems as though they’ve neglected to bring a long the magic ingredient that makes a good band great, they just don’t have enough variety in their sound. They still got that high-pitched, whiney singer though, which is fine by me. And they do exhibit touches of greatness. Like on “No Place I’d Rather Be” there is some great edgy guitar work and extremely effective backup vocals. And “Three Minutes In Logan” is really toe-tapping and neat. But overall, it’s pretty much just another emo rock record, and I have enough of those in my collection already.
So MCJ continue to totally fit in with that whole Grey AM / Jazz June sound with their big walls of guitar sound despite the hints that they were morphing. And Sleboda has done some super cool artwork for another Penn State band. Surprise surprise. Good record, but not the brilliant one that I was half expecting.