Posted on: October 16, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

The first track on the disc, “A Cross + A Girl Named Blessed” mixes together Alien Ant Farm, Tool and Dashboard Confessional in some unholy alliance that really shows an incredible amount of emotive force even if the instrumentation has a lock on the low end of things. “Stop + Say You Love Me” even furthers the Tool comparison further, seemingly taken line for line out of the Aenima album. Evans Blue plays the type of rock that will undoubtedly be all the rage on new-rock types of radio stations. What I’ve learned though is that “new (or nu) rock” is really an insult, I guess?

When I reviewed 10 Years, I got a number of angry messages from fans saying that 10 Years was not trying to be that style of band; I’m going to clarify this here. Just like 10 Years, Evans Blue is a new-rock band. New-rock is not necessarily anything bad, but it is categorized by bands taking some of the commercially successful rock of the mid to late nineties (Alice in Chains, the aforementioned Tool, Disturbed, and the like) and coming up with a style that has tremendous ties among all the members that play it.

This includes acts like Three Days Grace, 10 Years, and now Evans Blue. Each of these bands play the style well, and Evans Blue has their strongest suit in the extremely emotional form in which they couch tracks like “Over”. In much of the same way as do their “uncles” Finger Eleven, they come forth with a track that has emotionally affecting lyrics but the same gruff exterior that has tied together all the tracks on “The Melody and The Energetic Nature of Volume”. The band never gives up on the fury in which they couch tracks like “A Cross + a Girl Named Blessed”; there is no doubt in my mind that Evans Blue will enjoy a run of popularity for months, if not years from this disc. There may be some aural similarities to the rest of the new-rock bands, but Evans Blue puts forth an emotional plea to their listeners with each and every song on “The Melody and The Energetic Nature of Volume” that no other band up to this point has been able to keep up with for the entirety of the disc. For fans Disturbed to Finger Eleven to even “Epic” Faith No More, Evans Blue is preparing to shake the music world as we speak.

Top Tracks: Beg, Dark That Follows

Rating: 6.3/10

Evans Blue – The Melody and The Energetic Nature of Volume / 2006 Hollywood / 11 Tracks / http://www.evansblue.com / http://www.hollywoodrecords.com / Reviewed 23 January 2006

[JMcQ]

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