Emarosa - Emarosa

Emarosa's self-titled sophomore album release is a slightly mellower affair than previous efforts - 2008's Relativity and 2007's This is Your Way Out - and that's apparent from the outset. A Toast to the Future Kids! is a slow builder, but has a catchy chorus that soon brings up the pace.

Although die-hard fans might not welcome this fact, there's actually a decent amount of hummable music on this album. Entire songs you could sing in the shower, or in the car, without losing your voice. Whether that's a good or bad thing will depend on why you listen to Emarosa - for the raw, screaming, rock or for the subtler points?

Either way, fans should be able to find at least something to enjoy. Newcomers, expect to hear a lot of racing guitar, fast-paced drums with plenty of cymbal crashes, and abruptly ending tracks.

High Points

A Toast to the Future Kids! is actually a strong opening track - the introduction is not too face-grabbing and the chorus is well constructed and catchy. If you listen carefully, you can probably even figure out some of the lyrics for yourself.

The Game Played Right. Well paced, this track builds, soars and swoops for its full four-minute duration. It may not have the screaming of earlier Emarosa releases, but there's a careful touch here - and some equally careful shouting in the chorus that shows a good mastery of voice from lead singer Jonny Craig.



The Verdict

There are clearly some decent tracks on this album - enough to make it worth a listen or two, anyway. There's also plenty of variety, despite the collection's loyalty to its alt-rock genre. It's not my personal cup of tea, but at least I can be objective about it.

Overall, if you have to listen to noisy music - as opposed to listening to good music, loud - I think you could do a lot worse. Emarosa are clearly maturing in their own sound and for me, it's nice to hear something with some craftsmanship to it, the subtle touch that allows the vocals to develop and removes some of the screaming.

If you don't like noisy music, you're probably not gonna enjoy this album much - but it is more palatable than many. If you have to buy a gift for an alt-rock fan, and they're likely to be playing it in your presence, Emarosa might not be a bad bet. Things could be much, much worse.

The Final Score: 74%