Before We Forget — L.T.D.

Track Listing

1. Go Fast (Turn Left)
2. That One Animal
3. Legitimacies
4. Someone Something
5. To This Day
6. Thought of a Wonderer
7. So What's the Plan
8. This is a Title Track
9. Confined Suspension
10. How Long

January 6th, 2010 at 8:30 pm by Ryan Tallman

Tags: Before We Forget

Alright folks, kick off your Sunday shoes and get ready to dance because Columbus’s very own Before We Forget is offering up a sound that is sure to shake up the dance floor. This outfit’s new album L.T.D. has more bounce than Shakira’s booty, but regrettably has come along with more dumps than a truck, if you know what I mean. Their mixture of Indie-pop punk and melodic hardcore gives this record an interesting feel. From the get-go, Before We Forget offers up a high-energy, high-spirited arsenal of pop-core, punky dance ballads, a dash of brutality, and a hint of salvation. This mixture seems exciting, but proved to be quite the opposite. It’s all a matter of taste and luck. Their song composition comes across a little predictable, very simplistic, and by the book, so if that sounds appealing to you Before We Forget is just what you’re looking for. The luck aspect will entail whether or not they are able to ignite the music scene with their sound before we forget (excuse the pun) about them, or even care for that matter.

Every time I hear a new band in this genre I look for paradigm-breaking, outside of the box musicians. Simply put, if everyone makes the same music over and over, the scene loses its luster and becomes drab and uninteresting. In the case of Before We Forget, I think what we have is a progressive mash-up of a couple different styles of music that, when mixed together, offer up a high-energy sound. If properly tuned, it could separate them from the pack, but if left unstable is sure explode in their faces leaving them lost in the crowd. I’m afraid these boys might fall into the latter of the two.

Here at The NewReview, each and every writer shares at least one common goal — to find great new music. We love music and of course we want to expand our libraries with more great music. But on to my point. Whenever I listen to a new artist or band I hope to feel a connection…a pull to them. With Before We Forget, I felt like I was lifted up and then left there, suspended, waiting for a connection. That connection was never made. The album isn’t terrible, but it felt very anti-climatic to me.

Their opener, aptly named “Go Fast (Turn Left),” is a fast-paced powerhouse of a song. Every element of this track is executed perfectly. The guitar work is edgy and precise, and the back and forth of the vocals between heavy and clean really sets this track off. This is a great song that got me really pumped to hear the rest of the album. Unfortunately, they set the bar too high from the start that I’m afraid they weren’t able to live up to.

Track two, “That One Animal,” didn’t do much for me at all, with nothing worth mentioning. Track three, “Legitimacies,” had a very catchy and well delivered guitar track, but this is the song where they lost me; and honestly it was the vocals that did me in. That tune Derek was carrying in his bucket apparently spilled out. His war cry was spot on, but not nearly prevalent enough to save the track for me. He just seemed to lose his energy, which killed the mood for me.

Track five is a spoken prayer of what I believe to be a southern preacher. Now, as a God-faring man, I don’t disagree with prayer. As matter of fact, I’m a fan of praying, but personally not in the middle of a record. It just kind of killed whatever momentum the record had left.

I’m not going to go into the second half of the record simply because it’s about the same as the first — mediocre and cliché. Not terrible on the ears, but not memorable or electric enough to lock me in to their fan base. I really don’t mean to offend or come across crass because I liked them at first, but I just sort of lost interest. They were unable to capture me. They didn’t push me away or bore me but aside from track one, which I will be putting on my iPod, I didn’t feel that connection I long for in my music.

In my opinion, Before We Forget is just another five piece melodic core band to add to the hundreds that surface everyday. They aren’t offering up anything terrible, but they’re also not bringing us anything new. A little bit catchy, but a little bit too poppy and bland for my taste.