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The AuditionControversy Loves Company Victory/Stomp Laugh at us all you want, but it's tough being an emo fan. I love bands like The Get Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World and Taking Back Sunday - and even though I don't have a slick emo fringe or any tatts I still cop a beating for it everywhere I go: work, uni, home. As the genre has taken hold in the last couple of years, it's increasingly getting harder to defend myself, when flagship labels like Victory start releasing any old schlock that's got a scream and a punk aesthetic. I haven't reviewed a number of Victory discs this year because they all sound the same. Victory once released greats like Thursday and TBS, but have since put out a slew of generic emo-punk that panders to the cliche. June's 'If You Speak Any Faster' sounds like The Junior Varsity's 'Wide Eyed' which in turn sounds annoyingly similar to The Forecast's 'Late Night Conversations' (although the horrible male-female tag-team vocals of the The Forecast lowered them even more). Whiny, banal melodies and the same distorted guitar lines abound, lyrics repeat themselves ("You'll feel me under your skin," "keep your distance, steel and skin," and "I'll begin again to shed this skin," are lyrics from each of those three records) - my god, emo's an easy target. Chicago's The Audition are the latest offering from Victory and they can almost hold their own. Sure, they sound like everyone else, but at least they can write a catchy hook (Dance Halls Turn To Ghost Towns, Approach The Bench) and vocalist Danny Stevens' voice can deliver them. For the most part they keep up the pace, with a bit more of a punk-ethic ala Taking Back Sunday's brilliant debut 'Tell All Your Friends,' - it's when they descend into the plodding half-time typical of the afore-mentioned bands (La Rivalita) that things take a truly dire turn. The Audition aren't so bad, but with all the emo heavyweights now on majors (The Used, Thursday, Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance, Brand New) it's somewhat ironic - and disappointing - that it's genre-defining indie labels like Victory that are facilitating the spread of the imitators.  |
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