Overview – Forty-Four Stone Tigers

A CD by an unsigned band can sometimes be an ominous thing. Quite often it means it’s amateurish and no one really wanted to sink their money into it. Other times though, those unsigned bands can be the highlight release of the year (remember The Matches‘ E. Von Dahl Killed The Locals? Light years ahead of their follow-up Decomposer which, unlike their debut, saw the support of a record label).Overview falls somewhere in between. While not being amateurish in the least, I can see why an label wouldn’t want to sink their money into it: it’s pretty boring.

The recording quality on the album is superb. It’s very crisp and clear, each instrument is distinct and Forty-Four Stone Tigers never falls victim to the loudness war muffle. It’s well produced, well mixed, and well packaged – better than many signed acts; and that in itself deserves an applause. However, no matter how technically sound the seven song EP is, it still can’t get past the hiccup of being too dull and monotone.

Forty-Four Stone Tigers sees the band reaching for great heights with their sound. With a tinge of UK indie pop ala Coldplay and merging it with the atmospheric reach of Muse, Overview attempt to let the vocals soar off glistening guitar riffs that float through the speakers. Unfortunately though, while they’re able to do that on a select few tracks – The Two Headed Snake is quite impressive albeit a tad lengthy – they aren’t able to do it the whole album. It makes for a long and lengthy release, clocking in at twenty nine minutes mean the seven songs tend to drag on much more than necessary, to the point where it becomes tiresome. Clip off a few of the instrumental portions (and the title-track which is a completely instrumental track that gets skipped over every time) and the album would be more compact and manageable; as it is, it’s long, dull and monotone.

It’s kind of disappointing, because there are a few shining moments of possibilities scattered throughout. Melancholy In The City starts off with an upbeat melody similar to The Format but loses it’s pace when they try to break free with the soaring “woahs”; and the aforementioned title track that follows really kills the slight momentum picked up by the track. Maybe Dead At 27 is a slightly more energetic tune leaning heavily on the UK sound of the Kaiser Chiefs or Franz Ferdinand. If Overview were able to keep the intensity and energy up that they have in the chorus of Maybe Dead At 27 then the EP would be more entertaining. They don’t though, and the EP falls into a realm of mediocrity and becomes a release you’ll soon forget about. It’s too long and too atmospheric without the pull needed to drag the listener with them.