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Rating:
Blink 182 with breakdowns.
I believe there's no more suitable (albeit bold) definition, and this (relatively) new work under Victory is yet another proof. In short, "Homesick" unapologetically follows the path already taken with the debut "For Those Who Have Heart" (a sort of modern Hardcore with a pop twist that's already gaining popularity worldwide) although lacking the spontaneity that was the strength of the first album. And what does that specifically mean? Selling out, that's what it means. Playing it safe, this is the reigning philosophy in "Homesick": choruses more mainstream than you can get, breakdowns and youthful acceleration, a production that's overly polished and decidedly out of place (we're talking about a group that barely knows how to play a few power chords...), even a couple of ballads, so to speak, with even more questionable lyrics. And if you, like me, will appreciate at first glance these undoubtedly original solutions (Death Before Dishonor covering Justin Timberlake is a good analogy), after a few more in-depth listens, it will become apparent that, aside from tuning down the guitars in a couple of tracks, the band has very little to say already by the second album.
"The Downfall Of Us All" is cute but nothing more and strongly resembles another song from the album, that is "Another Song For The Weekend", same goes for "Mr. Highway's Thinking About The End" and "Welcome To The Family", not to mention the poorly executed experiments of "Have Faith in Me" and "If It Means A lot to You", which even features a female voice, in which the band ventures quite questionably into a genre that should be left to bands like Paramore. The rest, as you can imagine, doesn't differ much from the aforementioned tracks, with glimpses of genuineness present only in a couple of episodes, like "My Life For Hire" and "I'm Made Of Wax Larry What Are You Made Of?", undoubtedly the best on the album.
Although it's a nice way to entertain a party, "Homesick" is absolutely nothing more, representing a step back even from the acceptable debut "For Those Who Have Heart", and it hints at a worrying regression towards increasingly mainstream territories for what will be the band's near future. Do we give contracts to people like this and then complain that Grind is trendy among emos...?
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