Posted on: November 21, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Eastern Conference Champions – Home Away EP / 2007 Suretone / 4 Tracks / http://www.eccmusic.com / http://www.suretone.com /

It has been a few years since we last reviewed the Eastern Conference Champions, and the “Home Away” EP marks the first tracks off of their “Ameritown” album. The vocals that stop off “The Box” have a lot in common with a Dave Matthews, while the rock created by the rest of the band vacillate between U2 (the pre-chorus sections) and something that blends The Polyphonic Spree and other retro acts (during the chorus). “The Box” represents a solid track, but it does not sound as if the Eastern Conference Champions will be able to catapult themselves up the charts with the successes of that song. The brooding style achieved by the band during “Noah” provides individuals with an entirely new approach by the band, and it is during this Radiohead meets Queens of the Stone Age type of track that the band starts to gain a little traction.

It is the intensity of the band’s compositions during this track that will get individuals most firmly behind the band, and despite the stilted type of vocals, the band is able to notch their first true hit of this EP. The vocals are even more uneven during “Navy Man”, a track that succeeds in the instrumental sense but fails in the vocal sense. If the vocalist can just stick with a specific tenor and style throughout the entirety of the track, the resulting song would be strong. This is especially prevalent during the aforementioned “Navy Born”, which has an Against Me meets Lucero type of sound to it. The vocals are pretty much the only thing that could hold Eastern Conference Champions back. I’m not saying to remove the vocalist from the band, but perhaps to discipline eir until that point where the output is a little bit more strong.

Top Track: Noah

Rating: 5.5/10

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