Stereotyperider

Prolonging The Inevitable (2004)

Infrarecon

I hope you can deal with all the fucking songs that sound the same.

With lyrics like this down to the album cover of an upside down city, it is apparent that Stereotyperider are attempting to take a different approach to melodic punk rock with their sophomore album Prolonging The Inevitable. The question is whether they succeed, and for the most part the answer is no. While they incorporate a wide variety of grunge and post-punk influences and various guitar effects into their music they are still firmly rooted in melodic punk.

The very first lyrics on the album have the vocalist singing "I've got so much to say," which is ironic, because for the most part the songs have minimalist lyrics relative to their lengths, which average at over 3 minutes usually leading to certain vocal lines being sung repeatedly throughout.

After the intro track "Down As," the group launches into "You're Not Safe With Us," which provides a good diagram for the majority of the album. After beginning with a catchy intro and chorus, the group goes into nearly a minute of instrumentation before repeating the chorus for an extended amount of time. After about 5 minutes, the song for the most part stops and enters a period of what is essentially different noises all leading to a running time of nearly 6 minutes.

This same song pattern of intro/chorus/instrumental/chorus/noise persists throughout most of the album, causing it to feel repetitive and in certain cases too long. Songs that try and shake up this pattern are incidentally the most memorable such as "Worthless," which forgoes a mid-song instrumental for over a minute of intro and a "brisk" 2:55 running time. Another problem that plagues the group is the vocalist's at times off-key delivery. While it is not enough to undermine the band as a whole, it can definitely be off-putting.

While this album would have benefited from more variety in song structure, it still remains engaging with interesting instrumentation and big hooks.