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March 8, 2007

Music Review

Fake it, Don’t Take it

Debut from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus isn’t worth the listen

Story by: Rueben Gonzales

Scene Critic

— Courtesy art

If this album comprised just one song, one lonely single, then I would give The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus’ debut album five stars. It’s not every day that a group of young men take time out of their rockstar lives to address problems like violence against women.

However, the band’s album, Don’t You Fake It, is not a public service announcement. It’s a rock album, and not a very good one.

Aside from the mainstream-hit-turned-public-service-announcement, “Face Down” and “Cat and Mouse,” a more melodic toned-down track that doesn’t seem to be from the same band, the rest of the album is just filler.

Filler that doesn’t seem to know its audience. Every song, from “In Fate’s Hands” to “Damn Regret,” starts out as cookie-cutter pop-punk songs with vocals, drums, three guitars and a bass to match. However, each song is interrupted by awkward harshness.

The band needed to pick a side. Either take it up more hardcore and screw the mainstream appeal, or soften it up. Lose the pop-punk façade with the annoyance of a screamo member whose unnecessary loudness interferes with the music and the lead singer’s vocals.

This album is not even worth the download, much less the buy. If you want to seek out “Cat and Mouse,” do so, but I’m sure the local radio stations will continue to play “Face Down” every five minutes for at least the next month or two. The sounds are clean enough, but it’s obvious this is just another factory-made band trying to be a little mainstream with a faux edge.