A Skylit Drive – Adelphia

After listening to Adelphia, I can’t help but feel sorry for Lodi, California’s A Skylit Drive.  The shiny production value, technically ambitious musicianship, and shear energy of the outing all point to a band confident in their talents.  But while Adelphia certainly has heart, it lacks an essential soul – something to differentiate it from the legions of other faceless Fearless Records screamo releases.

The band features what might at first seem to be female vocals sung in a pitch slightly higher than those in Paramore.  However, upon closer inspection we learn that those female vocals are actually the product of Michael “Jag” Jagmin – a man (?) who sounds as if he was castrated at age eleven.  Now, if you’re going to call yourself “Jag,” you better damn well have some teeth to back it up, so I’m not sure whether to laugh or hang my head in disgust while sitting through “Jag’s” piercing sheik.

On the other end of the spectrum there’s bassist Brian White’s backing vocals, which subscribes to a deep, indecipherable hardcore style.  He doesn’t make appearances on every track, but on those like “Prelude to a Dream” and “The Children of Adelphia” he makes his presence known and becomes an integral part of A Skylit Drive’s product.  I guess what the band has tried to do is put together two naturally opposing vocal styles for some type of enlightening contrast.  The contrast does make for a much needed change – but only because one can only take so much “Jag.”

Musically the band is adequate at best, but couldn’t write a memorable melody to save their life.  Guitars and drums provide an inoffensive backdrop with ambitious displays of skill, but never really settle on anything concrete.  Even now I’m hard pressed to remember any particular track.  They all just blend together with the same predictable formula: open with some sort of guitar instrumental, move on to either White or Jagmin’s vocals, switch vocal styles mid-song – and then repeat.  Even if you enjoy screamo (or in this case, castrato), you’ve probably heard this all before.

Adelphia is boring at best and derivative at worst.  Jagmin’s vocals are obviously a matter of taste, and each song has a been-there-done-that feel.  In other words, the album lacks a hook, or a lure – essentially anything that’ll keep listeners coming back for more.  Pass on this one.