Matchbook Romance – Voices

So I definitely jumped the gun with my praises for Matchbook Romance‘s debut full length Stories & Alibis. When I reviewed it I gave it many positive comments, praising it and saying it was an album “that will not soon be forgotten” – and I guess I was right in that aspect, it’s been a few years and people are still talking about it. But really, after that first week, I got bored of the CD. Found it boring and repetitive and went on to write them off completely. It’s generic emo sound did not have any lasting power at all and I soon started to try my best to avoid the band. But with the band releasing their sophomore albumVoices now, it’s going to be hard to fully ignore them, but as long as they keep putting out songs like Monsters I won’t complain as much.

Now, Voices is still far from being a masterpiece, but it has left Stories & Alibis behind in the dust. Their song writing has matured and their entire song structure has transformed. They have left the whiny emo sound for a much darker rock sound, giving the album a much gloomier feeling – but a good feeling none the less. And like Hawthorne Heights did with their sophomore album, Matchbook Romance have really improved drastically in their vocal department. Andrew Jordan’s vocals are much stronger now and while there is no longer as big a variation in the vocal harmonies as there used to be, Jordan’s vocals are now able to make him stand out in a line of emo cookie cutter vocalists.

But still, I don’t see Voices lasting that long in many people’s CD player. There just isn’t enough of a catch to keep you coming back. At just over an hour in length, Voices tends to drag on in parts. So much so in fact that it is sometimes hard to get to the end of the CD before falling victim to the urge to press stop. Some songs, like the single Monsters, the album opener You Can Run, But We’ll Find You and Fictionhave enough intensity in them to pull them forward. I mean, you can’t help but sing along with Jordan and his band mates as they chant “We are! We are the shaken! We are the monsters underneath your bed!… We Are Mistaken We Are The Voices Inside Your Head!” Sadly, the band normally follows them up with a much slower song, like What A Sight or Surrender which aren’t able to keep the momentum flowing.

Matchbook Romance have improved on Voices, both vocally and technically, there’s no doubt about it. Oddly enough, many of their old fans will probably hate this new sound – as it is very different. Much gloomier, darker, and harder. Nevertheless, it moved them up a notch in my books, but there’s still not quite a big enough hook to keep me coming back. It just drags on for too long.