Get Scared

Cheap Tricks And Theatrics EP

Written by: TL on 16/09/2009 14:27:40

When I first stumbled upon the Utah quartet Get Scared, I wouldn't say that I was overly impressed with their bandname, nor the style of their myspace or the titles of their songs, but after having listened to a bit of stuff off their player, there was apparently still something that compelled me to listen to them, doing so for the purpose of bringing you this review of their "Cheap Tricks And Theatrics".

What convinced me though, can indeed be a bit hard to spot at first glance. As I've already insinuated, I personally find their bandname to be quite lame, and their aesthetics seem to have been ripped clean off some early images of The Used or From First To Last. What matters is the music though, and musically, this actually isn't half bad. Sure enough, vocalist Nicholas isn't the incarnation of originality the way he also sounds like Bert McCracken and Sonny Moore rolled into one person, but still, there's a delightfully reckless sense of insubordination to the way both him and the rest of the band delivers their slightly industrially tinged horror/screamo cocktail.

Think of a band like Escape The Fate, then replace their Guns 'N Roses infatuation with an Alice Cooper one and stick them with a no nonsense attitude the likes of LostAlone's and you have yourself a pretty solid idea of this band, ready to rip things up. And rip things up is exactly what the band does mostly on this six track EP. Opener "Setting Yourself Up For Sarcasm" and track four, "If Only She Knew Voodoo Like I Do", both party hard in a psycho-circus kind of manner, and then there's a song like "Lock The Doors" that really brings back the memories of FFTL's classic "Ride The Wings Of Pestilence".

However, even though I think this EP sees the band shape up much better than their appearance would let on, there are a couple of things to pick up on. While the boys' relatively single-minded appetite for destruction is carried into reality rather convincingly, the song structures sometimes feel like they've been assembled on auto-pilot, and one could long for a bit more ambition and surprise in this department. And then there's the closing "The Blackout", featuring a bit too much auto-tune and electronic effect, something I also think is inspired by something from FFTL and their "Dear Diary..." album, which Get Scared just doesn't seem to have the sufficient amount of charisma to pull of.

All in all though, this is a positive surprise from a gang of obnoxiously pre-historic-scene looking dudes, and if they can maybe subtract a bit of that cheap theatricality and add a bit more original personality, then those bands in the FTFO section might have some closer competition in the near future.

Download: Setting Yourself Up For Sarcasm, If Only She Knew Voodoo Like I Do
For The Fans Of: The Used, LostAlone, From First To Last, Escape The Fate
Listen: myspace.com/getscaredrock

Release Date 16.08.2009
**UNSIGNED BAND**

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