Ah, screamy bands--I think someday they'll take over the world. Slowly but surely they've seeped into pop culture and the kiddies are loving every second of it. The Rise is "just another kid on the beat" trying to make it in the big bad world of Creed and Britney Spears. I'm not a huge fan of stereotyping, so I felt a little bad thinking such negative things about The Rise before hearing them. However, after carefully listening to their CD about 8 times, I think they fit right in with that Thursday screamy business that has taken over MTV 2.

The CD begins with a quite friendly and catchy keyboard part, and brings much promise to originality of the rest of the songs. I must admit, I was pretty excited when I heard the beginning of the song. Soon, the keyboard was meshed in with some metal-esque guitar parts and some spoken-word screaming. For the most part, I'm a big fan of both qualities. I was actually enjoying the first song, until I got to minute 4 of the first song. It seems to be a little long for what it was. As the beginning songs continued, I lost a little hype and settled in--which isn't always a bad thing. I mean sometimes its good to get into a mode while listening to a band. Apparently however, The Rise is not one of those bands. By the time I got to song four, I felt like I was listening to one of those "MTV we'll make you rockstar bands"...you know, the ones they hold auditions for.

I really like the spoken word screamy parts they came up with, I like the guitar parts, I like the keyboard parts, and the rhythm BUT NOT ALL TOGETHER. I'm a firm believer in giving CDs at least 4 chances to win love but by the end of the CD I just felt sick, and I had no want to give it another chance. It wasn't possible to dance to many of the songs past some simple head bobbing, and the lyrics were pretty generic. I think once The Rise settles into their own personal style and drops some of the random genres they attempt to throw into their songs, perhaps I'll be able to appreciate their message and music a little more. These guys have a ton potential in my opinion, as I really enjoyed the PARTS of the songs, I just think they need to settle into a mold without falling into a rut. I do think the Signal to Noise caters to many popular styles, which could lead to them making some money from it...which can never hurt.