Posted on: July 2, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 1

Revolution on Canvas 2 / $12.99 / 2007 Warner / 2:00 / 236M /

This is the second volume of what I believe is the only book that is dedicated to collecting the poetry of some of the most famous rock stars in the emo, hardcore, and metalcore genres. This volume features a different selection of artists than the first volume. This time around, individuals from Motion City Soundtrack, The Receiving End of Sirens, He Is Legend, Meg & Dia, Something Corporate, The Sound of Animals Fighting, Classic Case, and Say Anything all throw in.

Of course, that is all within 40 pages; there are literally forty or so other bands that have some form of contribution for this volume. I must admit, though, that I had not heard of a great deal of these bands when I looked through the table of contents. I’m sure that acts like Paper Models, Nurses, Envy on the Coast, Minor Celebration, Delilah in the Calm and Dollar Fifty Date are big in their own scenes or will be so in a few months or years, but I don’t think the average fan has heard of them. Obviously, if you are not a fan of poetry, don’t pick up this book. If you are a fan of layouts that actually change, don’t pick up this book. I mean, the poetry is good, but one wonders why there were not more in the way of page breaks and other things to accompany the poetry present. Aside from a typewriter font on a black background denoting which band the author was in, the text is all the same font, just placed into bold, underline, or italicized versions.

To say that the book is hard to get through in one sitting would be an understatement. However, what the book does is good; it allows individuals from bands to showcase other talents that may not be immediately known by fans of the acts. However, by introducing this form of conformity to a very creative process, I feel that something major is left out of the equation. I understand that getting a page designed for every single poem would be cost prohibitive, but maybe if they could even divide things into sections and stick in some art there, the result would be a much stronger book. Kudos has to go to the editor Rich Balling for actually getting this book together (and in turn, getting what has to be a semi or annual collection started up), but there can be so many more things added to make this a “must buy” tome of poetry.

Rating: 5.8/10

1 people reacted on this

Leave a Comment