Joel Stop Him - Joel Stop Him
by James

website - joelstophim.com

I wasn’t sure what to make of Joel Stop Him when I first got this CD. Here was a band that came out of nowhere and they already have a full-length album’s worth of material. What did I expect? Rushed songs with generic riffs and boring structures. What did I get? A young band making interesting use of a wide range of influences and blending a variety of styles. I got lyrics that were insightful and personal without being whiney and pathetic. There is a tremendous amount of bitterness aimed at many different sources throughout Joel Stop Him’s debut album. Did I mention this almost qualifies as a rap/rock album and they still managed to make me like it? That is probably due to the fact that the rap rock style parts have far more in common with the likes of Downset and E Town Concrete than, say, Limp Bizkit. If the lyrics hadn’t been as well done and intelligent as they are, the rap rock elements would have been a huge downside to the excellent songwriting and wonderful mix of screaming and melodic vocals. As it stands, they defy you to try and lump them in with the lesser bands that have cannibalized this admittedly tired style. They pulled it off, though; despite the fact that the vocalist is more than up to the task of singing and screaming. On the music side, I hesitate to draw comparisons, because there is no one band that these guys sound like. Joel Stop Him draw from a fairly deep well of influences spanning most of the bands that are or were popular in the last 5 to 10 years. An attentive listener will hear bits of Tool, Deftones, Rage Against The Machine and various metalcore bands scattered through Joel Stop Him’s sound. They manage to blend all these influences, fairly well, and I think these guys are well on their way to standing tall amongst their peers. The only weak spots for me were the two slower tracks, L and Shoreline. You become so accustomed to the diversity in the vocals that these come across as extremely monotonous. Apart from that, this CD is as close to perfect as I would expect from a band that is just starting out. Yet another band from our little scene that I expect to see great things from in the future.