Please Mr. Gravedigger

Throw a Beat (2005)

Meg Reinecker

With the overwhelming popularity of post-hardcore, it's no wonder record labels are chomping at the bit to find an accessible gem of their own. With this said, it's no real surprise for an EP like Please Mr. Gravedigger's Throw a Beat to be released on Pluto. In fact, it's pretty predictable.

Throw a Beat is home to five relatively short songs from a band whose sound mimics a more gravelly, rock'n'roll-sounding Blood Brothers. "You Gotta Tame the Best Before You Let It Out of Its Cage" is a somewhat cluttered and chaotic 48-second track, while Throw a Beat's second track, "Seventeen Year Old Piece of Gold," provides the listener with dual vocals directly in the vein of the Blood Brothers (think: feminine-sounding vocals), with more of a slow-paced rhythm.

Both "The Nine to Five" and "Rocket Science" take a more original sounding approach in focusing more on keyboard-oriented rock that will make the listener at least want to tap their foot in accordance to the beat. Yet, something is missing from this mixture. The EP's last track, "Wales," offers somewhat of a bonus song seven minutes into it with an acoustic, laughter-filled ditty with gratuitous use of the word "fuck."

In essence, if you enjoy bands in the likes of the Fall Of Troy and are impressed that Please Mr. Gravedigger boasts members from As I Lay Dying, they are surely worth a listen. However, aside from the aforementioned, the band doesn't have much to offer in the way of creativity. The music they play is solid, yet nothing that we all haven't already heard time after time again.

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