Stereotyperider plays an interesting brand of emo/indie-rock. Their first track on “Prolonging The Inevitable”, moves between rejoicing in odd arrangements at one point to rocking out in true emo-rock style throughout much of “Down As”. Immediately impressive are the guitar solos found on the aforementioned track, which move from sizzling guitar tracks that are slightly sloppy to some of the most impressive angular-technical that the genre has ever seen. Becoming evident during “You’re Not Safe With Us” is the “Us” mentioned in the song – when a band has been around for half a decade, they should strive to sound half as cohesive as Stereotyperider is on this track, mixing together equal amounts of vocals, drums, bass and guitar. The icing on this sweet are the sugary-smooth vocal lines of the chorus, further bolstered by the rest of the band jumping in at the proper time. The peak of the multi-part vocal harmony doesn’t occur until the staggered vocal parts of “Puncture the Burn”, which match perfectly the minutely-changed guitar riffs found throughout the track.
One thinks that “Unacceptable by Today’s Standards” would be the band’s falling-off track, far enough from the opening tracks that people won’t be as attentive by the time the track begins. Moving away from the emo-rock for this track, Stereotyperider look back to the alternative-rock of the nineties, incorporating chunks of Beck, Soul Asylum and Toad the Wet Sprocket to their already diverse list of influences. Throwing together the two currents that have predominated most of the disc so far, “Old and Jaded” has distinct emo-rock vocal musing and Hayden-like guitar lines struggling for dominance, in what is a very eclectic track. Later tracks do slack off in the terms of innovative, but I have to defend Stereotyperider in this instance. When a band has done everything possible to make a new and fresh sound, there has to be some point in which they’ve done all they can do.
This is not to say that “I Own a King” is just a carbon-copy of the prior tracks; rather, given the large barriers that they have set for themselves in “Prolonging The Inevitable’s” earliest stages, Stereotyperider can make refreshing music without trying too hard to attempt wilder and wilder things. Stereotyperider’s disc was a surprise for me, as I came into it with fairly low expectations (don’t know why, either). Let the shrill guitar licks of “Worthless” wash over you and one will understand exactly why Stereotyperider is impressive, to say the least.
Top Tracks: Worthless, Down As
Rating: 6.3/10
Stereotyperider – Prolonging The Inevitable / Suburban Home / 11 Tracks / http://www.stereotyperider.com / http://www.suburbanhomerecords.com /