Reggie And The Full Effect "Songs Not to Get Married To" (Vagrant)
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Tuesday. Apr 26, 12:14 PM
The funkiest blend of screamer-style technotronic punk.

Testimony to the tagline is on their fourth release, Songs Not to Get Married To. Screw the introduction buildup and all that jazz: opener “ What the Hell is Contempt” introduces Reggie And The Full Effect’s newest like the quills of a scaling porcupine. Aggressive, and yet contemporary enough to appeal to fans of many different genres. This album explodes like a grapefruit laced with a small tab of C-4.

Track three, for instance (“What the Hell is Stipulation”), starts out sick and twisted. A contagious bounce of metal grooves and guitar alliances clear a path for any kind of lyrical content. Once the chorus arrives, things step down a pace only to give way to another blitzing bridge. By the time the climax arrives, the screaming vocals get behind the wheel for the first time on the album, showing just how beneficial its raw presence is. Track four, “Caving,” is a harmony-based pop effort. The lyrics are dragged out to ensure an easy cache of memorable musical outbursts. Track five, “The Trooth,” is, by all means, the progression all metal fans will need when considering purchasing this disc. Missing is the predictable formula of whiny vocals so very evident on the previous tracks.

However, “Take Me Home Please” further dignifies the diversity of this project with its synth-pop keyboard intro, only to be backed up by a softly sang verse and chorus. “Kissing me so slowly / should I be this lucky / like we’re in the movies” left me dumbfounded, gagging on my own unsuspected vomit. To switch gears is one thing, but to go from testosterone-swinging-blood-dripping-metal to “written for ‘90s boy/girl group style” sound is just off base. Frustrated and feathered, we’ll just move on rather than continue to focus on the trenches of negativity.

Though “Thanks For the Misery” walks down the same path as the aforementioned “Take Me Home Please,” it does manage to open this project up a little more, seemingly leaving a black hole of genre hybrids behind. “The Fuck Stops Here,” soaked in hypothetical production work from someone with comparable talents to Trent Reznor, opens yet another door: stuttering steel strings inundate a full agro-rock sound. “Love Reality” is a track for, yes you guessed it, yet another style derived from the breed of ‘80s synth. In the end, this album has more identities than a crazed politician in search of votes on election day. For those of you in search of such an unstable sound, this record is for you. For fans of just variations of the aforementioned genres, proceed with caution.

If you’re part of the ADD generation or if you want a disc that’s got a little bit of everything you like, then this is definitely for you.
www.reggieandthefulleffect.com
www.vagrant.com

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Brian Rutherford

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