A TEXTBOOK TREND-FOLLOWING TRAGEDY

A LOT of you have been emailing us about A Textbook Tragedy lately. The first time an email came in with a link (PS, the amount of emails that still come in with NO LINK is absolutely mind-blowing) I checked out the music and I wasn’t that impressed. But the emails kept coming so I tried again. And I’m still not impressed.

While the Canadian lads in ATT undoubtedly have chops, that’s about where my interest in them ends. Suckalo Kurt Thornley begs, “i know the name sounds a little emocore but i assure you they are not.” Actually, they are. The pretty sing-songy vocals in the chorus of the first song on their MySpace page are not a good start. Neither are the slew of tactics that are borrowed from other popular heavy subgenres. Good-cop/bad-cop? Check. Gang vocals? Check. Time signature changes that feel contrived and aren’t that interesting to begin with? Check. Big, stupid breakdowns? Check. A little dissonance and weedily-weedily? Check. There are a few interesting riffs here and there, especially on their older stuff, but that’s about the only redeeming quality I can find here.

Yawn. This band is signed in Canada and the U.K. but not (yet) the U.S. I hope they sign to Victory.

-VN