Morally Fine But Lacking Backbone
Victory State, are a quartet consisting of Craig Bunting – Bass, James Brighouse – Guitar, Harry Nesbitt – Guitar and Matt Titterton – Drums. There's nothing unusual there, they make catchy, melodic Lost Prophets style music, nothing unusual there either and they have decided to revolutionise the music industry by donating 100% of their EP sale profits to the Make A Wish foundation. Ah, wait, that's quite unusual really, isn't it? According to their press statement Victory State have started a revolution. They are proving that playing professionally within the music industry is an achievable dream:
"Victory State stick to a strict ethos in order to achieve their aim, they are determined to prove that the industry can be cracked without money acting as their catalyst. They vow to donate 100% of their intake from EP sales to the Make a Wish Foundation."
It is a shame however after going to all this effort that the record doesn't express the same unusual stance. In fact it's not as screamo as their record company say but more along the lines of polished radio friendly rock that appears to lack the one thing it needs: originality and backbone. Musically it's played fine, it's been produced fine, the melodies are nice and they're catchy enough but it's just missing something. Weak vocals do not help matters and the fact that there is definitely nothing memorable adds to the disappointment. It's basically bland and in need of cranking up a notch, in effort and in energy.
Unfortunately it's a little too generic to start any kind of revolution and although what they are doing with their profits is a great and bold thing to do it may well be the only thing they are noticed for, as I'm not sure anyone is going to pay attention to them for their music.