Featured review by:
UG Team, on february 02, 2007
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Sound: The cover of the album After The Room Clears by Permanent Me promises you the filling may be heavy, may be scary, but for sure very gloomy. Surprisingly it’s not the first guess, neither the second, it’s even barely the third one.
Permanent Me, a quartet from Bellmore, NY, is a newest find by Stolen Transmission Records. Their debut album After The Room Clears is scheduled to be out January 30th. It was recorded with the producer Matt Squire who previously worked with the acts Panic! At The Disco, Cute Is What We Aim For, Downtown Singapore.
Permanent Me claims to be pop punk, but there’s also a bit of emo thrown in to vary the careless happy nature of the genre. After the Room Clears starts very joyfully with major guitar chords and light piano of the opener “Until You Leave.” The first single of the album “Allison” Permanent Me borrowed from their EP Dear Virginia, out earlier this year. For the new record the track was re-mixed by their friend Deryck Whibley from Sum 41. “Allison” has a catchy sing-along chorus and melodic guitars. “NYC” could be the more mature stand-out track thanx to its interesting Stone Temple Pilots-like and sliding guitars. It’s mid-tempo, but at the same time has a high tension, almost a power ballad with bombing drums. The weak point is hidden in the too long whining chorus with the completely disgusting vocals. “Christine” is the heaviest songs on album. It’s the band’s attempt to go more metal with cymbal-heavy drums, distorted guitars and some decent screamo. There’s even something more or less like a guitar solo, due to be in every metal song, but pop chorus and tacky bridge at the end doesn’t let you rest, reminding it’s still a pop punk band. Anyway it’s a brave try!
All the songs have a standard 2 and a half-3 minute limit and often not too different from each other. // 7
Lyrics and Singing: The poetry is quite primitive, perfectly suitable for a teen movie. The tracks titled “Allison,” “Christine,” “Friday Night,” “Heartattack” and so on feature subjects like love-hate relationship -- the innocent worries of a young guy. It won’t take you long to understand what the vocalist Joseph Guccione sings about as everything is pretty evident. Like “4 a.m.” that starts with “4 a.m. and I’m still here/What is left after the room clears” and the next verse is “5 a.m. and I’m still here/What is left after the cheap bear?” Good question!..
The singing is pretty much matching the lyrics -- Guccione plays guitar and meanwhile sings. Thus it turns out quite ok, but without any highlights or something to pay attention to. Permanent Me put in some screamo to express their anger and add some spice to the album. The second guitar player Brian Kapler screams about Christine in song written in her honor. // 6
Impression: Most of the tracks are catchy and radio-friendly, even heavier “Christine” has screamo softened for gentle ears. But the melodies are catchy in general and there’s nothing on the record to remember Permanent Me for. There’s a ray of hope for potential a few moment on the record, unfortunately no further than that. That’s really not to be expected from a debut CD though.
The band would probably get an impressive fanbase mostly due to the popularity of the genre in USA (the buzz on MySpace is already proving that), but it would be hard for them to keep the fans interested. They may soon be forgotten prior to another pop punk band that appears on the horizon. You gotta be a big pop punk fan to find enough reasons to buy the album. // 7
- Kosh (c) 2009
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