New Music Reviewed: Innerpartysystem's "Innerpartysystem"
By infect999 1 Comments
Artwork:
Genre(s):
Industrial
Electronica
Dance
Track Listing:
1. "Die Tonight Live Forever" - 4:41
2. "Last Night In Brooklyn" - 4:21
3. "Don't Stop" - 4:19
4. "Structure" - 3:58
5. "Everyone Is The Same" - 3:51
6. "Obsession" - 4:20
7. "This Empty Love" - 4:49
8. "New Poetry" - 4:02
9. "This Town, Your Grave" - 4:55
10. "Heart Of Fire" - 4:20
11. "What We Will Never Know" - 4:15
12. "Home" (hidden track) - 2:54
Length:
51:11
Released:
September 29, 2008 (UK)
Setpember 30, 2008 (US)
The Review:
My knowledge of this band was based on a stroke of luck. One day a few months ago, I received a rock newsletter email from Island/Def Jam. I rarely bother to read these, since Island's lineup can be summed up as a mountain of crap, save a few decent bands. But something caught my eye: they stated something about a new music video for a song by some band called Innerpartysystem, and that your ears will bleed. Naturally, I had to see this. I watched the video and listened to the song, and I was...amazed. I became an instant fan. This album surprisingly became one of my most anticipated of the year; a debut for a no-name band. But this band is something incredible.
It's hard to confine Innerpartysystem to a specific subgenre, since they gather inspiration from everywhere. You can hear the grinding heaviness and intricacy of an industrial act like Nine Inch Nails, the sampling and synth of electronica or techno, and rhythms like that of dance that make you want to move. The vocals, similarily, gather inspiration from multiple genres, at times clean like pop, dance, and sometimes emo, masked electronically like techno or industrial, or even rough and gritty like hard rock or metal.
What's more amazing is that the band manages to pull all of this together while retaining an organic sound, a sound that most anyone could enjoy, fans of pop or rock. Everything just blends seamlessly. It's difficult to describe the sound; it's something that needs to be heard to understand.
So, we've established that the band has pulled off a sound that is fantastic and unique, but how well do they execute it? Quite well, given that they are a young band, but the album still suffers from a few flaws.
Many of the tracks, such as "Structure" and "Everyone Is The Same" lean more towards the dance side of things. This isn't the problem; the tracks still retain the other properties that make the sound so great. The problem with these tracks is they, and they alone, just sound too much alike. Sure, there's noticeably differences, but you can't help but feel that these tracks are all-too similar, and that hurts them. It's also in these tracks that the band's writing is the weakest. In the end these tracks end up feeling close to filler, and average to slightly-better-than-average.
The band almost makes up for it with incredible design in its other tracks. The opening track, "Die Tonight Live Forever", is a prime example of the mix for everone. It's clean and bouncy enough for the dance and pop listeners, while gritty and pounding enough for the rock listeners. "This Empty Love" is a quieter piece that features intricate sampling and sound design that make it feel like it almost came straight out of a Nine Inch Nails album, which is quite an achievement. If you've played Madden '09, you've probably heard the band's lead single (and song that got me hooked) "Don't Stop", one of the faster-paced, rockier songs on the album, and definitely one of the best. It's catchy, fun, and an incredibly well-crafted too.
Sadly, all these amazing songs create the second major flaw: the band neglects their strengths in many of the songs. The band is at it's best when they're fast and full of energy, but they just seem to want to slow down, and that's when they write their weaker songs mentioned before. It's really depressing to see them regress at points within the album. One minor flaw is that the bands lyricism isn't as amazing as their songwriting, but it's still passable. Most songs are about love and love lost, but break the mold enough to escape being standard-issue. What's nice is when they change focus to other, more cryptic messages.
Despite it's flaws, this is an album you should definitely give a listen if you're a fan of pop, dance, rock, or industrial. Innerpartysystem has created a unique sound for themselves, and shown that it has great potential. It's an incredible achievement for a debut album. I have a feeling Innerpartysystem is going to be massive.
Score:
8.5/10
Top Tracks:
"Die Tonight Live Forever", "Don't Stop", "This Empty Love", "This Town, Your Grave", "Heart Of Fire"
-infect999
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