Alamance

In This Moment

Written by: TL on 24/07/2010 18:51:21

I hope you readers are on your toes these days, because I'm becoming more and more resolved to produce at least one review a day, every day until real life comes and pulls me away again. Hence I give you Alamance, a New Jersey four-piece built around singer and songwriter Josh Sorhagen, who have just released their debút LP "In This Moment".

That Alamance are aiming for the mainstream is as clear from their music as from their open association with bands like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and even The Jonas Brothers. On "In This Moment", the guitar-driven and piano-backed tracks are as run-of-the-mill radio-rock as it comes, both in terms of production and composition. Everything comes together around Sorhagen's lyrics and vocals, which is alright, because the singer sounds quite good in his main style of delivery - a high pitched, longing croon, very reminiscent of how Ronnie Winter sounds in TRJA's slower songs. On the flipside, his few lower notes sound rather corny and over-performed, but then again, in aiming for the radio waves, Alamance probably aren't expecting much criticism for this.

So far, so well, but alas Alamance do have problems to iron out before they can hope to make a lasting impression. Everything on here has simply been heard before so many times it hurts, and apart from some guest screams on "Circles", the band has gone for the safe choice on every other occassion, effectively making their album sound like a ballad-collection from We The Kings, Cartel or The Rocket Summer. It's not poorly done, but the stylistic expression is just really, really stale, and given how crowded the competition is, I believe that Alamance will have to take a few risks and find a stronger identity, before anyone will be likely to remember their music for more than a few weeks.

6

Download: Blaming You, Circles, I Believe
For The Fans Of: Cartel, We The Kings, The Rocket Summer
Listen: myspace.com/alamancemusic

Release Date 15.06.2010
Smack In The Face Records

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