VersaEmerge
Fixed At Zero

A few days ago, I was looking for something new to listen to when, somehow, I stumbled across this name: VersaEmerge (an American band not well-known in Italy). Intrigued by the name, I decided to do some research about them, discovering that they have been playing since 2005 but only released their debut album in 2010 under the "Fueled By Ramen" label, which is what I will review.

The current lineup of the band is as follows:

Sierra Kusterbeck - Lead vocals

Blake Harnage - Vocals, guitar

Nick Osborne - Bass

So, one of the things that immediately stands out when reading the lineup (apart from the fact that, for some reason, the drummer is missing from the official band lineup) is that the lead vocalist is a girl (and what a girl!) and, in my opinion, she is the strong point of the group.

Their musical genre is quite difficult to define; I would call it Pop Rock, even though there are different influences, but now let's dive into this "Fixed At Zero".

The album consists of 11 tracks and opens with "Figure It Out" which begins with a choral part with acoustic guitar in the background, joined by drums and bass that lead up to the chorus, where you can already sense what the singer is made of, an excellent way to begin immersing ourselves in their music. "Mind Reader" is the next track, and it is here that the lovely Sierra showcases the power of her voice. We then arrive at the title track, "Fixed At Zero" with its nice guitar riff that, in my opinion, is one of the best. Now, with the next three tracks (including the beautiful "Stranger"), the album loses some of the energy it started with, only to pick up the pace dramatically with the excellent "Fire (Aim Your Arrows High)" whose chorus will stick with you after just one listen. This song stands out from the others because the guitarist sings in the first verses.

After listening to the good "Up There" and "Your Own LoV.E", we reach "Mythology", the most Pop and commercial song on the record, but it's still not to be dismissed and is much better than a lot of the stuff found in the charts. We've arrived at the final track, the beautiful "Lost Tree", the longest song on the album (a solid 7 minutes and 11 seconds) that starts with acoustic guitar and the beautiful voice of the vocalist, joined by a nice electric guitar riff leading up to a silence that is soon shattered by a powerful scream from Sierra that sends shivers down your spine, one of the best moments of the album (if not the best), the song continues with excellent riffs accompanied by background screams and Sierra singing all the choruses of previously heard tracks until it closes with another scream. This last track is undoubtedly the "gem" of the album as well as a great way to close it.

As I mentioned, Sierra Kusterbeck's voice is the strong point of this band, but the musical composition of the songs is also very well-crafted and good, all of which makes "Fixed At Zero" a good album that I feel I can recommend to everyone, regardless of the type of music you listen to; it can also be a great way to take a breath of fresh air between Metal albums, just take it for what it is, namely a nice Pop Rock album.

Best tracks: "Figure It Out"; "Mind Reader"; "Fixed At Zero"; "Stranger"; "Fire (Aim Your Arrows High)"; "Lost Tree".

Rating: 4.5