Furthest From The Star – This Waking Moment (CD)

The first act that Furthest From The Star reminds me of is A Static Lullaby. The guitars work at a level well above the rest of the track, while the vocals of the band seem to have more to do with acts like Nickelback than anything. Overcome has a much more nuanced sound than Glass Breaking but it does not even come near to the whining of acts liker Simple Plan; the guitar line that backs up the band keeps the individuals from delving too much into this controlled wussiness. Any thought that Furthest From The Star could not bring the heaviness is dissolved when the band gets into It Serves You Right.

Again, the beauty of Furthest From The Star is not that they exemplify one pole of emo music but rather that middle ground that allows the band to hit up a more emocore sound for It Serves You Right and a more Simple Plan like sound for Overcome. Each of the songs on This Waking Moment are done with the radio in the band’s future; Cry For Help uses the guitar work that was perfected by Jane’s Addiction with the screamo sounds of a Senses Fail to seal the deal. Even if the styles approached by Furthest From The Star are not too terribly experimental, what gives the band points in my book is the skill that is exhibited on each track of This Waking Moment. The use of emotional intensity during tracks like Heart Left Dead will drag individuals around, while the arrangements create a full sound out of something that is essentially just guitar, drums, and vocals.

One can only imagine a Furthest From The Star live show; the impassioned pleas of Neil on each of the tracks driving listeners to tears with each line. The band has a number of tracks that are ready for radio or video, but there is not the one track on This Waking Moment that will be their ticket to the big time. One of the downsides of current popular music is the prevalence of the single-oriented album. Furthest From The Star come out with an album-oriented album, where all of the tracks reach the same high water mark that they’ve given to their music. Individuals will be wowed if they have the chance to listen to the album but might not be quite as impressed if a song from This Waking Moment is removed from its context and put against a Brand New or Fall Out Boy track. Saying that, though the track that nearly approximates the level that tracks like those by Fall Out Boy has to be Alone in Feeling.

Top Tracks: Glass Breaking, My Last Hope

Rating: 6.0/10

Furthest From The Star – This Waking Moment / 2006 Self / 11 Tracks / http://www.purevolume.com/furthestfromthestar / Reviewed 24 March 2006