My American Heart

The Meaning in Makeup (2005)

Jordan Rogowski

The skies don't bleed, anymore.

Those five words, lyrics from "In Between," could easily sum up this entire mess of an album. Upon reading those, the majority of you I'm sure already dislike the album; I assure you, actually hearing it would do nothing to change your misconceptions.

A decent voice will only get you so far, and by so far, I mean a song and a half, because that's how long I had initially made it before having to restrain myself from ejecting this disc from the drive. This is another instance where the singer is extremely young, 18 I believe, and has a solid voice. And once again, the band behind the singer is so mundane and uninspired that the singer can't show the talent he clearly possesses. Every aspect of this album caters to the boring qualities presented on modern rock radio. None of the chord progressions, none of the drum fills, none of the bass lead-ins can even separate themselves from song to song, let alone against other bands and other albums. Only on "Interluded" does the band step outside its own model for a small time frame, to throw in some screaming, that oddly, doesn't sound bad at all. And at least that way, the lyrics are indecipherable, which is a huge bonus.

Worst really of all, is the fact that this album is 45 minutes long. 45 minutes? I was bored after 10! Regardless, the proverbial and literal beats both go on, and unfortunately that includes the song "Organ," which is among the most repetitive songs I've personally ever had the displeasure of hearing. There's no saving grace, not even a flash of something better in the five songs following either. It's all the same boring, trite garbage that the band peddled in the first half of the album.

No, just no.