La Dispute - Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair - CD (2008)

Labels: No Sleep
Review by: Andy Malcolm

Wow. This is pretty bad. Imagine some guy who wants to front an MTVmo band, being backed by tedious, faux-epic rock, overdosing on guitar effects and widdles. You can probably guess from the album title that this band has wanky leanings. You get the idea straight up from the first song, the singer is all getting frantic, I am guessing he is tugging at his shirt and hair, and then suddenly everything stops. Then they start the next song and it’s the same thing. I am all about over-wrought emo, but this stuff is entirely cringeworthy, over the top, masturbatory, grating garbage. I think the singer could have just about gotten away with it if he was in You And I, but with this hideous backing it just doesn’t work at all. And it seems to go on forever. Luckily, there is always the stop button. And the bin.