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The Blackout Argument - Decisions review



Reviewer:
3.5
Band: The Blackout Argument
Album: Decisions
Release date: September 2007


01. Abandon, Good Guy
02. I Against
03. Remain In Silence
04. The Used And The Dead
05. Share Or Leave It
06. Glassbead Game
07. The Die Song
08. Regain Serenity
09. Zombie Aesthetics
10. My Life In Spoken Words
11. Overdose Narcosis
12. Trail And Error, Error, Error
13. A Fulltime Tragedy

How many more bands will we have to cope with until the metalcore/emo trend wears off?
How many more bad albums will we be fed before people realize that this is not good music?
How many more clones before they understand that being overly trendy and cheesy does not always constitute a good starting point for a career?
Don't misunderstand me, I like a lot of metalcore bands, even the "normal ones" such as Killswitch Engage, my favourite being Heaven Shall Burn, but I can't take bands such as The Blackout Argument anymore.

There is a simple reason, that goes way beyond hatred for trendiness (I don't care about that): the music is simply bad. After three seconds of "Abandon, Good Guy", you know what you are in front of, you can predict what the album is going to be like. This is basic, uninteresting metalcore with two overdone riffs per song at best, the not-so-good mosh part with group shouted vocals, the cheesy lyrics and sometimes the cliché hardcore/punk passages. It is ok? two minutes. I mean, a lot of bands do that, some are even good (Hell Within, Deadsoil, to name two other Lifeforce bands), but The Blackout Argument do it very poorly. When you find yourself wondering how many times you've heard this riff already since you pressed that damn play button, you want to switch to? I don't know, Burst, to give but one talented and original metalcore band.

When the band decide to change the pace a bit, it is only to commit - there's no other word for this musical massacre - "Glassbead Game", the cheesiest ballad since James Blunt's "You're Beautiful". Big up to the frontman, Sinan Akilli, for unashamedly being one of the worst singers I've heard to this day. His blatantly emo clean vocals are more or less constantly out of tune. His screams are barely ok. But if you can't sing, please don't do an acoustic ballad. Please. I'm begging you, this is traumatizing. To be honest, this album with good vocals would be average - soon forgotten but enjoyable for a few listens. It's those unbearable vocals that finish ruining what could have been decent.

Let's be honest, there's a few good points to be found though. As always with a Lifeforce Records release, the production is crystal clear, with just the perfect balance between aggression and melodies. Then there's the two good tracks: "The Used And The Dead" is a pure oldschool hardcore anthem with a great chorus, while "The Die Song" is a heavy instrumental track with great riffing. But this is all that needs to be saved. I seriously don't know who can enjoy or simply want this, except emo kids with strange hairdos and bad taste, or die-hard metalcore completists. Others? Avoid at all cost.

When I think they state in their bio that they are fed up with the stereotypical bands that get signed by the music industry? Meh.


Highlights: The Used And The Dead, The Die Song


Rating breakdown
Performance: 7
Songwriting: 4
Originality: 3
Production: 10

Written by Deadsoulman | 05.10.2007




Comments

Comments: 4   Visited by: 14 users
05.10.2007 - 01:01
Queen Of Hippies
Account deleted
Haha. Ok. One more band to avoid.
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05.10.2007 - 02:38
+{Jonas}+
I R Serious Cat
An album with such a title has to be bad.

Quote:

the cheesiest ballad since James Blunt's "You're Beautiful".

I tend to think that "you're beautiful" is far superior to this band.
----
"Nobody wants to be the weird kid, you just end up being the weird kid. You don't know how you ended up getting there" - Rob Zombie

http://jonas-bs.deviantart.com My dA, mainly photography, go check it out!
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05.10.2007 - 15:11
GT
Coffee!!
Thanks for the warning and for a really good review...nice to see that you're trying to be as objective as possible eventhough you obviously really dislike the album.

...and comparing the ballad to James Blunt is priceless
----


Dreams are made so we don't get bored when we sleep
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05.10.2007 - 16:18
destroyah
supercharger
Dude this could almost be a copy of a somewhat similar April CD I got a few months ago. And like Blackout, they also stated that they're the 'new refreshing sound'. I guess it takes a third party to lay the truth down on these guys
----
About me:

"The best out of all the people ever" - Washington Post

"We abandoned Christ for Destroyah's love!" - The Watchtower

"Simply amazing!" - Rolling Stone
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