This band got signed to American Recordings? I guess they're just handing out recording contracts to any copycat band lately.

Yeah, you heard me right, Noise Ratchet is a copycat band. In these 6 tracks, the band directly apes the forerunners of their emo-rock/pop genre so badly, you'd think that their royalty checks are made out to the Juliana Theory and Hot Rod Circuit than the band themselves.

From a musical standpoint, it's not half bad. The first song, "When Losing Ends," is fairly catchy while listening [although I can't hum it right now to save my life]. The problem occurs when the band moves past the first song - second track "Fiction Arms" sounds just like the first song. Loud guitars, pounding drums, wailing, plaintive vocals - I seriously can't tell where one track stops and one begins.

It only gets worse with track three, "From Your Lips." It sounds just like the first two, except the verses are in 6/8 time [but the chorus reverts back to good ol' 4/4 for the "rock out"]. The band knows how to write a good song, but apparently they don't know how to write more than one in a certain style.

The band slows it down with "A Way To The Heart," a soft ballad that is apparently re-recorded from their last album. It sounds like one of the more lush Dashboard Confessional songs that had the girl singing with him.

The next two songs split the difference, with one falling into the "loud rock" category and one falling into the "soft ballad" category, but again, they're both unmemorable. There is just nothing fresh or new on this EP to warrant it's purchase at all.

Kids, if you like this band, go to the source. Buy a Hot Rod Circuit CD, buy a Juliana Theory CD - shit, buy a fucking Jimmy Eat World CD, they molded this genre into what it is nowadays anyways. Just avoid this, please.

Think of the children.

Watch e-card here