So I found this new band while cruisin' the internet the other day; They're from my newly adopted hometown of Hamilton, ON. and (presumably) named after a song by a band I really enjoy, so I decided that I'd do these dudes a favour (a very small one, considering nobody looks at this, but a favour nonetheless) and review their album for them. I'll be using the compliment sandwich model that we learned about in good ol' grade 5 French class.
In the unending realm of self-released, basement-jammin' punx and scenesters, Hamilton, ON, based Adelleda are top notch. These guys avoid all of the major pitfalls of local bands, including but not limited to: dick-riding shitty trends, sucking at their instruments, recording their material with shitty equipment and programs they can't use, not understanding dynamics, transitions, melody, etc., having a singer that can't sing, having a drummer that doesn't understand click-tracks, or generally just sucking. Good job dudes!
Seriously though. These guys can play, they know how to write a well rounded tune, and they obviously take this gig seriously enough to record it properly – add the energy they bring to the record (that probably translates nicely to a live show) and they're well on their way to becoming a band good enough to catch the attention of a solid label.
The problem is, they're not quite there yet. Judging by their sound and band bio, these dudes set out to carry the torch of their “punx” heroes on Fat/Epitaph/Vagrant, and they've done a damn good job of that so far. But the next step these guys take has to be out of the shadow of their influences, or else they'll risk walking around in circles. On Herkimer Street, the pandering (naming the album after a jam space, writing songs about riots, name dropping cities) and far-too-overt musical references to stuff like early Rise Against/NUFAN keep Adelleda from really standing as their own entity. Also, the album could have benefitted from being a little shorter: For me, the first four songs were a fun little throwback with a whole lot of potential, but after that the album started to get repetitive and trailed off. I think these boys would've been better off presenting their four strongest tracks as an EP and refining the other stuff for a later release.
However, the silver lining to those clouds is that these kinds of things are easy to chalk up to “new local band releases material quickly so they can play good shows” syndrome. Usually when that happens, the results border on unlistenable. For Adelleda, the results are simply not as good as they could've been. These dudes have a lot of raw, workable potential as, like I said before, they're actually good musicians and decent songwriters. If you can get past how much this sounds like Strung Out, you can hear glimpses of post-hardcore leanings on songs like “Triptune” and “You're Dead To Me, Farley” as well as a spunky little burst of creativity on the bridge of “G.B.N.”. If the band continues to work on developing those factors of their songwriting into a distinct and unique sound, it won't be long before they're a household name, chilling on a boat with Ben Weasel or whatever the fuck they do over at Fat Wreck Chords. I mean shit, these guys are playing their record release show with Chixdiggit! That's gotta count for something, right?
Download this stuff off Bandcamp now so you can say you liked them before they were cool and get 100 punk points!
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