3

Irritatingly Dull

What's in a name? Many have been the nights I spent at home as a kid trying to come up with 'cool' names for bands. After coming up with 'Ace of Spies', 'Remains of the Day' and 'Deluvian', I realised that it was a hopeless cause. But in hindsight the names of such bands as 'Anthrax', 'Megadeth' and even 'Metallica' are equally crass, the difference being the above bands have millions of sales behind them and a credibility that makes any rubbish mantle quite acceptable. It wasn't until the current scenes of emo and metal core bands etc... that the daft name syndrome managed to create a bastard son. 'Taking Back Sunday', 'Hawthorne Heights' and even 'My Chemical Romance' are pretty cheesy names, and arguably unsuitable for the style of music they play. For example, you know you're getting something heavy with 'Deicide' or 'Slayer', it's thrash on the table with bands called 'Machine Head' and 'Arch Enemy', It's fist pumping metal with 'Iron Maiden' or 'Hammerfall' and cock rock with 'Enuff z Nuff' and 'Pretty Boy Floyd.' It's a constant challenge to pin bands such as 'Bring Me the Horizon', 'The Fall of Troy' and 'Comeback Kid', what do they sound like? Do I care? Do they sound like a band I would be interested in? Probably not because they don't convey the suggestion of being a heavy band. A narrow-minded view I will admit, but it's a viewpoint that initially turned my nose up at the tragically named 'A Love Ends Suicide'. Sadly, apart from the long-windedness, I also found their band name offensive having been affected by the tragic subject their name conveys. Obviously the band weren't to know this, and perhaps they themselves have been affected by such a tragedy, but I would like to point out to the band, if they ever read this, that their choice of name could have been better and perhaps will put many people off listening to their music. I for one, if I weren't a reviewer, would be giving this debut album by the Californian 5-piece a wide berth.

Even though I find their mantle distasteful, it has no effect on my opinion of their music, nor does it have any bearing on their final score. It is just a co-incidence that 'In the Disaster' stinks as much as their band name does. Don't get me wrong however; this album is far away from the dregs of metal that occasionally get thrown my way. The musicianship on this disk, at times, is excellent. Guitarists Oscar Cairoli and Matt Garcia play some interesting and intricate guitar pieces, namely in songs such as 'Dying to be Beautiful' and 'Of Day Dream and Fantasy'. They give the band a power metal feel with their widdliness, but keep the music deeply rooted in the realms of 'core' with the staccato chugging that is unfortunately overused in metal core these days. John Cairoli bores us all with his constant shouting and screaming without incorporating any melody whatsoever. Bass player Emir Abdo supplies the occasional clean vocals, which are ok but they're the usual sustained notes with the shouter shouting shouts in the background. It's something you've heard many many many times before, and quite frankly it's getting a little stale.

It's a pity that bands such as 'A Love Ends Suicide' are ten a penny at the moment, they sound like they could have the tools to be quite interesting, rather than being an act jumping into an already overpopulated scene. There's nothing wrong with this, but I think they'll have a better chance of surviving to a second album if they don't follow the pack but follow their own style. All eleven songs on this disk are cut from the same cloth. It's difficult to differentiate one track from another, and apart from a couple of slick instrumental sections there is little that stands out. There's nothing here that can't be found on a Mendeed, Deadsoil, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Bullet for my Valentine, As I Lay Dying, Bleeding Through or Most Precious Blood album. Because of their similarity with the above named bands 'A Love Ends Suicide' come across as irritatingly dull. It's an angry and pissed off album, and if you like that sheer, unadulterated aggression then you'll probably like this release. Personally I'd recommend the new Slayer album instead. What's in a name? Their name suggests a tragedy, their album is pretty tragic. I guess the two go hand in hand.