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In Theory - I Witnessed The World End Through My Rear View Window
by James
In Theory's debut album, I Witnessed The World End Through My Rear View Window
is a solid metalcore album with a few short-lived but still pleasant surprises
to be found. The star of the show here, for me, was Zack Ordway. I'm basing
that on the assumption that he did most of the solo/lead parts on this record.
The solos, little jazzy bits and beautifully melodic elements are the most
enjoyable moments on this disk. There just weren't enough of them. When you
have the ability to play things like that, you really should use it to it's
fullest potential. While In Theory is a very capable band, all around, the
first time this CD made my ears perk up and go "Hey!" was the little funk intro
they do on "Pee Wee Herman Speaks German". That was so completely unexpected
from a band like this and I loved that. Frankly, the album could use more
things like that that are complete departures from the metalcore norm. The
vocals fall into one of two categories, most of the time; standard metalcore
screaming or some glassjaw-esque melodic vocals. The screams are outstanding;
very visceral and tough. The melodic stuff drug everything down for me, which
is a bit unfortunate. Griffen Holt has a decent enough voice, but there just
isn't much passion behind the clean stuff. You can possibly chalk that up to being young, in which case he could improve quite a bit as he keeps doing it.
For this record, I felt he came up short on the clean vocals. There are some
standout songs, here and there, where everything came together, nicely.
"Blending Realistic With Fantastic" has some cool breakdowns, "How To Hold Your
Head Up*" has a kick ass solo and "12 Gauge Valentine" is one of the better
showcases of what In Theory could be, in time, I think; the light jazzy stuff is
very well done and there is another spectacular solo here. The final minute or
so of "Into A Constellation To Chase Them Forever" ruined the whole song, I
thought. The repetitive chorus just grated on my nerves. They make up for it,
nicely with "Spoil Of The Moment"; a solid, heavy song with real drive behind
it. For what it is trying to be, I Witnessed The World End* is not bad. It
falls victim to one too many metalcore trappings for my taste, but fans of
metalcore will most likely eat this up. Given all the hype there was and still
is surrounding Zack, though, I really was expecting more. It's possible I was
expecting too much from a young band's first album. Still, I see a lot of
potential here. I just hope they make full use of it as they grow.
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Since 02.23.06
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