Posted on: December 3, 2009 Posted by: anfnewsacct Comments: 0

“Fair Trade” starts off “Morning Over Midnight” with a mixture of the new-rock sound with the proper amount of punk influence. Fivespeed thus comes out as a band that is tremendously influenced by Alien Art Farm and Incubus, while still having the current sound associated with acts like Three Days Grace. However, the immediate hit for the band has to be “The Mess”. The song has everything that is required of a radio-ready rock track in 2006; guitar lines that are influenced by acts like Creed and Drowning Pool, while the supersonic vocals present on the track find much in the way of commonality with the rest of the music currently getting airplay.

Aside from this, Fivespeed come out with a simple yet intricate (in ways) arrangements that hold up to repeated listening, which is a valuable skill considering that the band will splash in a major way here in the spring. The interplay that the vocals have with the churning bass line during the title track really creates a tension that is built up with the brooding guitar lines that soon follow. The stretched-out vocals that soon follow keep individuals listening, even if there is not necessarily the release that listeners need. Fivespeed come out with their “The Reason” during “Blame It On You”. Operating on a much slower tempo than previous tracks, Fivespeed still come out with a track that is catchy and will be on the lips of all their fans for the next year.

The incorporation of what sounds like strings during the track really differentiates it from the rest of the songs on “Morning Over Midnight”, and breathes a new life into the disc. There seems to be a return to the slower style on “Blame It On You” in “Lights”, but this return is moderated by the same bombastic rock style that is present on the majority of “Morning Over Midnight”. The one thing that can be said about Fivespeed is that one will never know what the band is coming up with next; Fivespeed might be couched in a style that a number of bands do well at this current point in time, but they break out quite a few times during “Morning Over Midnight” into something completely new. Well worth a listener’s time and money, “Morning Over Midnight” is diverse but always great.

Top Tracks: Touch of One, Blame It On You

Rating: 6.8/10

Fivespeed – Morning Over Midnight / 2006 Virgin / 10 Tracks / http://www.fivespeedmusic.com / http://www.virginrecords.com / Reviewed 29 January 2006

[JMcQ]

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