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I look towards a greying sky praying with all the strength I can muster, “Pray Lord, I know I have sinned but please send I violent bolt of burning lightning to wipe me from this earth so I don’t have to listen to this new mini album by Proceed, (available in all good record stores from the 8th September), anymore”. And thus begins my pained consumption of ‘Seven Months And A Fire Blanket’.
If originality were a birthright these lads would be unfortunate still-borns. Over the last three years I have witnessed emo bands multiply like swelling zits on the face of a troubled teenager; who in their pustuled tumescence have pockmarked the nubile face of music. Proceed weigh heavily at the nadir of said genre basking in the fruits of banality. Bands like Enter Shikari and We Are The Ocean have managed to create highlights in a saturated genre. Proceed have taken many of the elements previously laid down by the aforementioned, but sadly missed the point resulting in a timid, watery shart of an album. The record never quite finds a ground befitting the fire of heavy hardcore or the slippery smooth hair gel of skater pop-rock.
The opening piano of ‘Now Laughing’ generates a feeble pop cheese, which ferments into a stinky broth of soft rock. I was reminded of an unfortunate incident when I witnessed a Meat Loaf tribute band; and thus had to whip myself in penance. Lyrically Proceed are somewhere between the longing of post-romantic bands The Goo Goo Dolls, and the contemporary Busted spin-off Fightstar. Fightstar isn’t a lazy comparison on my part but a genuine likeness as it represents a band seemingly unsure about their place in pop or hardcore. I’d like to sit this band down and open their eyes to the world of explosive rock currently splitting the scene apart; namely Japan’s Boris or U.S noise/punk stars No Age.
I was waiting for the double bass peddling and it arrived in full throttle on the showy ‘Swemo,’ blistering with intricate lead guitar and layered vocals. I actually quite enjoyed this track, as it seemed aware of its comedy - like Spinal Tap, (though I have been known to be wrong before). Technically all musicians are of adequate quality for a young band at the early stages of their career. If you like your screamo/emo/skater punk with paint-by-numbers simplicity, then this is for you!
These guys are currently up for the NME breaking bands initiative so if I haven’t put you off go and vote for them now, or if like me suicide has become welcome, I suggest ‘proceeding’ with caution (see what I did there!).
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I was waiting for the ‘proceed with caution’ tagline but you saved it with irony
I quite like some of this but it’s like they have distilled the sound way too much. I’d much rather listen to Funeral For A Friend and of course Lostprophets
Yes, Lostprophets first album definitely outclasses this mess!
What an ignorant, ill-informed, poorly researched review this was.
Could there be a distinct possibility that a band so lacking in originality don’t WANT to fall into the pre-designated Kerrang-sponsored pits of “fashionable long-fringed pop punk”, or, for that matter “fashional long-fringed metal”?
Could there be a distinct possibility that Swemo is one of the least guitar-intensive tracks on the CD, yet someone with such untrained ears was unable to detect the much more complex lead parts in tracks like Telescopes?
Could there be some slight hope-in-hell chance that the double kick pedal was used to augment that long-lost artifact, the SINGLE kick pedal, and that by not RELYING on the fucking thing like a million other bands, that Proceed are trying to bring focus to something other than a poorly-EQ’d bass drum?
I really don’t think people should be able to review CDs if they’re incapable of noticing a band clearing working to break free of the mould set by talentless children like We Are The Ocean (and if you’ve not noticed how they’re about as original as a set of siamese twins in a hall of mirrors with their Alexisonfire-styled sound), and I really don’t think you listened to the CD with ears not yearning for more skinny-jeaned toyboys with no more ingenuity than your average household duster.
nicely put luke. agreeing massively, infact i couldn’t of put it any better myself.
each to their own i guess, but peter taylor clearly remains comfortably nestled in the predetermined scene world of what music people are expected to like.
this review is the most narrow-minded, generic bullshit i’ve ever had the displeasure of reading.
This link should enlighten you to the rich world of music that interests me. Sorry to have caused offence, but in this industry (and life) you have to appreciate alternative oppinions:
http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/writers.php?which=599
“Pete Taylor is based in south-west London. He has a passion for noise/ resonance and drone..”
“drone1 /dro?n/
–noun
3. a person who lives on the labor of others; parasitic loafer.
4. a drudge.
If your passion is noise/resonance, go buy a sustain pedal, see how long you can hold a note, and stop telling bands to fall neatly and submissively into the already-poorly-defined genre spectrum. Please?
And on an unrelated folky topic.. wasn’t the Mumford and Sons EP fantastic?
Drone has been apparent in music for centuries. Still enjoyed traditionally today in the form of ragas. Drone is an elongated tone which sustains a continuum whilst veering occasionally in a limited scale. It can be therapeutic or painful to listen to. That was what i was describing, (not as a personified noun).
I shall check that Mumford and Sons EP out, cheers for the recommendation.
Peter
There is a huge difference between an alternative opinion and a reviewer who is trying to write a clever discrediting review centered around the band’s inability to fall into the generic tripe that puts fringes on grown men and draws school children into HMV. You have done a real dishonesty to such an exciting band by clearly not listening to this CD. Luke is completely right, this is untrained ears unable to hear his comfort of familiar nonsense that is killing the scene. Seven months will be the start of big things for proceed despite their inability to be the lostprophets. Its a sad affair that just as music starts to get exciting again it is criticised in such a ludicrous manner. Proceed with caution? Proceed into another career mate cause you have really and ashamedly missed everything here!
I was very curious about this album after having seen the band go through many changes over the years.. but I really don’t like this review one bit. The album was a surprise, but a VERY nice one. Treading water is my personal highlight along with Swemo. Im as critical as the next “i know every thing about music” guy, and I hate myself for it.. but this.. this is a good album.
I have this opinin on reviews though.. One that I think other people will share.. you as a music fan, clearly don’t like screamo.. emo.. or Post-Hardcore.. So you shouldn’t be reviewing this as you will only be negative. Just like if I was to review a garage album or 50 cents latest offering. To call anything ’skater pop-rock’ is also a bit.. well I dont even know! Skateboarding as far as being linked to music is concerned would be about hip-hop or punk. so wtf is skater pop-rock!? Not Proceed.. thats for sure! They have no place in pop or Hardcore you say.. well good! Because they never claimed to be either.
p.s - Lukes so right.. We are the ocean!? not even close to Proceed mate. And this is a genre that I personally DO like.
Peace out, just want to voice my opinion
“i have this opinion”
hah sorry.. typo >.<
I realise I am in the minority here, but I agree with Peter Taylor’s review 100%. This album was quite possibly one of the worst I have ever had the misfortune to listen to. It is cheesy, banal and, frankly, boring. One of the comments above refers to ‘breaking the mould’. The only mould around that album is the sort that grows on out of date cheese (a particularly apt simile). Well done Music Magazine for not just publishing complimentary reviews that are little more than sales pitches. And well done Peter Taylor for putting into far more eloquent words than I could have done just how truly awful this album is.
Well, congratulations there Tina, in being able to write a paragraph entirely devoid of any actual content. Try backing up your foolish ideas with something more than transparent generality, and I might actually start taking what you have to say a little more seriously.
“It’s cheesy. I have literally no intention of telling you why, giving examples, or anything of that nature whatsoever, but my surname’s Reeson so I am clearly the light and the way and all shall listen to my unenlightened crap”.
Oh and I hate to be a language lurker but a simile has to contain either “like” or “as”. Did you get bored halfway through the dictionary because it didn’t contain any catchy choruses or hooks too? Or perhaps it was the lack of stylish haircuts or skinny jeans that turned you off.
I stopping any further comments on this post. It’s all getting a bit too personal for my liking - if you want to talk about the music then that’s fine, but don’t have a go at someone just because they don’t like the same band you do.