The Stranger’s Six play a brand of rock that is not very well defined during the opening track with “A Date With Daylight”. TI mean, the band uses hints of acts like Alkaline Trio and Rise Against to craft their own sound, but the track does not give listeners anything that they have not heard before. The act needs to create something new, something exciting, so that they might be able to make a name for themselves. The all-in vocals that are present at the end of the track are catchy, but come too little, too late. The band needs to give listeners a reason to listen to them. The band changes things up with “Echo”, but there is still not the spark that is needed to make The Stranger’s Six a household band.
The guitars play a little bit on AFI’s last two albums, but the vocals themselves are unadorned and just follow the contour of the instrumentation rather than trying to distinguish themselves from that instrumentation. “Skin Your Teeth” is the third track on the disc, and while the band includes some older styles of emo to the mix (especially in the instrumentation). The vocal progression during this track will remind listeners of later Good Charlotte; the band is finally starting to make their compositions less bland by this point of the track. The band continues the similar sound to Good Charlotte during “Love Letter”. The song again puts The Stranger’s Six close to the level they need to be at to succeed, but success on this album is elusive. The band does not spread themselves too thin, but it just seems as if the band needs to expand upon their influences and add more to their styles. If this can happen, the band will be much more impressive on subsequent releases.
“No Time For Queens” is a track that comes out firing, as the band continues along their punk-infused pop-rock path, even as the guitars present during this track move into the angular sound of a Franz Ferdinand at moments. It is nice to hear The Stranger’s Six take on different styles, but with later tracks still to come, it feels as if the band needs to add more. Keep listening to this band to see if they can turn around their fortunes on later albums, but as it is, this album is not different enough from anything else released by a Good Charlotte, Alkaline Trio, or a Rise Against to merit a purchase.
Rating: One Step Closer, No Time For Queens
Rating: 4.0/10
[JMcQ]
The Stranger’s Six – A Date With Daylight / Orange Peal / 11 Tracks / http://www.strangerssix.com / http://www.orangepeel.com /
