Gwen Stacy is a four piece Christian hardcore band made up of some comic book nerds from Indianapolis who probably still sleep with Spiderman sheets on their race car beds at their mom’s house. Luckily, they find time between Comic-Con Conventions and World of Warcraft to write some pretty catchy music. This is, of course, all speculation based on the name of the band. They might not even read comic books, but for the sake of the review, let’s just pretend they are a bunch of geeks. lol

A Dialogue is their first full length album under their new label Solid State Records. Because they have been working hand-in-hand with Andreas Magnusson (Haste The Day and Oh, Sleeper), I went into this album with some super high hopes. Solid State chooses their bands well, and Andreas has a decent track record. If nothing else, simply having a hand in Oh, Sleeper’s new record gives him kudos in my camp.

The album starts off pretty strong with a song titled “The First Words.” This track opens on a sound wave that sounds like a radio broadcast from the fifties, and then goes straight into a catchy little melody that is backed with a nice heavy vocal line. You get a strong punk rock feel in the chorus, but the heaviness is more prominent and the mix isn’t really too bad.

The title track, “A Dialogue,” starts off really slow, but when the music kicks in the guitar riff really drives this song home. Not a bad tune, but definitely not the best off the record. “Devil, Devil” is a good song as it has a good mixture of heavy and melodic vocal lines, some nice breakdowns and a solid rhythm section. All these factors put together really set the track off.

As you make your way to the end of the record, sadly all the songs kind of start to run together. “Braveheart,” “Middle Ground,” and “The Making Of” all sound like an extension of one another. They have some good hooks and catchy choruses, but not really much to write home about. The problem you start to see is that these guys write good music and are indeed talented, but they aren’t really bringing anything new to the table. Having the recipe for writing a good song is essential; but that little secret ingredient is needed to separate your music from the rest and, in my book, is the most important. I’ve said this before and I will say it again – give us something new, something that with separate you from the pack, and lock us in. Just writing good music isn’t enough anymore.

Their closer, “The Sound of Letting Go,” is an okay little ballad, but it starts off really slow and doesn’t go very far from there. This song would have done better tossed somewhere in the middle, but not as a finale. For some reason this is an issue plaguing the metal community lately. It seems as though artists are losing momentum towards the ends of their albums and closing on ballads or really slow songs. Go out with a bang, man. Leave a taste in our mouths that have us begging for more.

So, when the dust settles and the lights come on, what is the final verdict on A Dialogue? It’s a middle of the road, average metal record – not too bad and not too good. The CD as a whole is nothing fancy, but at the same time it’s not a strain on the eardrums. It starts off very strong, but come midway through you find it becomes the background noise to whatever you are doing. The vocals are strong, the music is well written, and well put together…but it’s just missing that little something to make it superb. There are definitely some good songs here, so if you’re cruising for some new music stop by their MySpace page. They are definitely a try-before-you-buy band, so sample their music and see what you think. They might not be for everyone, but then again, you might like what you hear.

3.0/5