I can most honestly describe this album by comparing it to bagged salad. All of the ingredients are present and great for your diet, but – as a whole – it would be most beneficial for your body if the vegetables were fresh.

To tell you the truth, I went to other sites to see how they reviewed this band. I know I shouldn’t have, but I did. For the most part, others said that this album is good. A hard rock album in a style comparable to The Mars Volta. Maybe it’s the sincerity of Daniel Johnston’s voice – what I’ve been listening to lately on my free time, spurred by the movie – that’s making me wince upon Omar A. Rodriguez-Lopez clones, but, frankly, I don’t know. Wires in the Walls is not groundbreaking in any way, but it’s serviceable. In fact, throughout the course of the album, I could not stop thinking of The Mars Volta, and not because I read the comparison elsewhere. The music is uncompromising hard rock with an occasional (very occasional) intriguing change. Other than that, I guarantee anyone above a music I.Q. of 80 will get bored with the lack of originality. As for the vocals, I must reiterate I wasn’t convinced. They are a Cedric Bixler-Zavala / Zack de la Rocha hybrid. One part “bad ass” and one part “boringly vulnerable.” They function, but for those of you looking for something honest, go elsewhere.

As for the production and artwork, I was impressed. Usually – and I hate to say this – I can tell if an album is going to be good based on its artwork alone. This time I was wrong. For those of you who can’t get enough At The Drive-In or The Mars Volta, The North Atlantic will satisfy your appetite until their next two-hour concept album hits the stores. As for me, my copy is somewhere along the side of the JFX.
www.thenorthatlantic.com
www.weputoutrecords.com
www.eastwestrock.com

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John Butler

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 Past Constructive Criticism

Cullen posted the following Constructive Criticism: Hey man, I'm in the band. Tough, but mostly fair. In point of fact, the comparisons to the Mars Volta may be a little unwarranted. If check out the press release for this record, you'd see that we recorded it back in 2002/2003 and when on an indefinite hiatus after printing a thousand copies or so ourselves. That was May 2003, before any of the recorded Mars Volta was out. We're more than happy to stand with our influences...Mars Volta, temporally speaking, just isn't one of them. We do like the band, though.