Rockfreaks.net

Eve 6

Speak In Code

Written by: PP on 20/06/2012 19:57:54

Some of our older readers might recognize the name Eve 6 from their seminal self-titled album from 1998 which turned the band almost overnight into superstars within alternative rock upon its release. And though the band never managed to write a worthy follow-up on two separate tries, they were always considered to be one of the better bands in the genre, offering a lighter and more pop rock oriented approach to the genre in a time where everyone and their mother seemed to be obsessed in nu-metal and post-grunge oriented bands. They disappeared in 2004 due to poor sales of their third album "It's All In Your Head", and the members spent time on other projects like writing and producing songs for Puddle of Mudd among others, before finally reuniting four years later "just to play a couple of shows". That's how it always starts, and hence the disc on the review plate today is called "Speak In Code", the fourth Eve 6 album and their first one in nine years.

Even though much time has passed since their 2000 album "Horrorscope", not much has changed sound wise for the band. Fans looking for a return to the more edgy alternative rock sound of their elusive eponymous debut album are likely to be disappointed, as the band's focus remains in writing extremely poppy and simplistic mainstream pop rock songs. It's an approach that's a safe bet for radio airplay - songs like "Curtain", "Victoria" and even the annoying "B.F.G.F." are virtually guaranteed to shift the album a large number of copies overseas - but one that has little lasting value or artistic integrity left. It's not that these are bad songs, because they're actually quite catchy in their own pop rock platform, rather than that the rest of the album is plagued by filler material that comes in one ear and goes out the other one.

Moreover, it really seems that the band's capacity for writing quirky and intelligent lyrics coupled with creative melodies was emptied on their 1998 debut album. I mean how does a band that once sang beautiful lyrics like "Suckin' on my brain you're the teacher I'm the student / Turning things around your story's not congruent " or "I would swallow my pride / I would choke on the rinds / but the lack thereof would leave me empty inside, /swallow my doubt, turn it inside out / Find nothing but faith in nothing." on "Leech" and "Inside Out" respectively, regress backwards so much that they're singing about sleeping with their best friend's girlfriend on top of a sugar-coated, superfluous chorus?

Instrumentally, it's not much better. If I was the drummer in Eve 6, I'd feel almost insulted having to play material as simplistic as that on "Speak In Code", which any one of you readers could pick up after just an hour or two of drum lessons. The standard disco rock beat, the boring, uninspired riffs, the standard bass-lines...all of it feels exactly like the disappointments of "Horrorscope" and "It's All In Your Head" in comparison to their debut album. That said, if standard mainstream/radio-friendly pop/rock is your thing, then Eve 6 is still a better option than, say, The Fray, Nickelback and that sort of thing.

Download: Curtain, Victoria, Blood Brothers
For the fans of: Our Lady Peace, Third Eye Blind, Everclear, Lit, Vertical Horizon, Semisonic
Listen: Facebook

Release date 24.04.2012
Fearless Records