Amber Pacific "The Possibility and the Promise" (Hopeless)
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Thursday. Jun 30, 1:14 AM
Formatted stop-and-start pop punk.

I remember writing my first review (of Chevelle’s Point #1): “The most important part of any album is arguably the first five seconds. Inside those first five seconds you decide whether the disc is going to be a frisbee or a favorite.” Amber Pacific may very well be proving my case six years later.

No, Amber Pacific’s The Possibility and the Promise is nothing like Point #1’s unique blending of metal and alternative. Amber Pacific’s first full length is more or less poppy punk. "Everything We We’re Has Become What We Are" begins with a perfectly believable Iron Maiden intro: quick fingering chords and a hammer-like drumbeat that garner immediate reason for excitement. Up till this point, even the bass line enjoys a nice rhythm. Then the vocals stomp in and completely unmask this monster as another breed. High-pitched, nose-pinched vocals is what’s offered throughout the disc.

Though the lyrical content is whiny and the instrumental technical intelligence lacking, this release still carries a certain amount of genre charisma, and probably should not be ignored. So in this sense, The Possibility and the Promise is not a frisbee, but far from the favorites that sit along the shelves of worthy $15.00 purchases. If you enjoy the trinkets of stop and start format guitar punk, you may be writing me some hate mail soon.
www.amberpacific.com
www.hopelessrecords.com

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Brian Rutherford

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