Call It Karma

Oblivions' At Hand EP

Written by: TL on 12/03/2010 19:50:51

Reviewing is fun when you get bands on your list that prove points you have close to your heart. Enter Call It Karma and their "Oblivion's At Hand EP". A disc I first listened to in a playlist of different promos I had thrown together to soundtrack my doing of something household-ish. It was placed directly after Vampires Everywhere - Yep, that's right, the band I just described in my previous review as being unbelievably generic and annoyingly vocoded - and will you believe me when I state that, being occupied by something else, I didn't notice that I was in fact listening to a different band, until a third band came around on the playlist.

So yeah, in essence, Call It Karma are another one of those obnoxious modern incarnations of scene music, just as unbelievably generic and annoyingly vocoded as Vampires Everywhere. Although to be fair, they aren't quite identical to them, in fact, they are a slightly better band, featuring heavier and more dynamic compositions as well as more layered and varied vocal performances. What that means is that there are at least two kinds of harsh vocals on offer, as well a second whiny robot-voice to support the main whiny robot-voice here and there. Oh and breakdowns in the place of guitar solos.. That last part doesn't really add to the notion of Call It Karma being 'better' though.

Now, the critical reader might have noticed that I am mostly raging because I dislike the kind of music this band plays, and while you may find that unfair, I'm telling you to get your head out of your tight and trendy scenester-ass and realize that bands like these are a cheap copycats that seem to be bands more for the sake of the fun, the fame or the females, than for the sake of adding anything of worth or originality even to their own tiny niche of music. They rip off heroes from the first popular wave of emo (in this case, Hawthorne Heights and Silverstein come to mind), then they digitally hide the fact that their singer can't sing and they glue in breakdowns because they think that's what people want live (see second song "Go Ahead, Throw A Tantrum" for one that particularly makes my toes cringe).

Again, to be fair, I guess if I could listen to this with no knowledge of any other bands in the world, it wouldn't be flat out painful. Hell, I might even tap my feet a bit, or nod slightly when a song breaks down. However, things being as they are, I can't wrestle my mind from the fact that not only is this painstakingly generic, bands like this one also seem to be copying poor bands who used to copy good bands, instead of copying from good bands directly. Contrary to the references I made before I guess. Shit, guess I'll just reuse those from the previous review then. I was going to give this 6½, but then I looked at the band's myspace and saw that they haven't done a single thing to try and distinguish themselves from the norm of the scene, which made me realize that indeed, "Oblivion's At Hand":

Download: Bud, We Are Going To Need A Janitor;
For The Fans Of: Asking Alexandria, We Came As Romans, Of Mice And Men
Listen: myspace.com/itskarmamusic

Release Date 2009
**UNSIGNED BAND**

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