Demo Title: Music to Quilt By...??
Band Members: Russel Ockmond - guitar, vocals; Tim Hilton - guitar, backing vocals; Shawn Savoy - drums; Ernie Thibodeaux - bass
Location: NOLA
Rating: 2 Skulls
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Band Name: Brown Sox
Demo Title: Music to Quilt By...?? Band Members: Russel Ockmond - guitar, vocals; Tim Hilton - guitar, backing vocals; Shawn Savoy - drums; Ernie Thibodeaux - bass Location: NOLA Rating: 2 Skulls
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Redwolff's Review:
I dislike so many things about this album that it's hard to know where to start. I guess first I should address Brown Sox's musical style - the band describes themselves as playing hard rock that crosses genres and claim to have influences that "span most of music's history." I wish the genius of Mozart had rubbed off on these guys a little more, because he knew how to write a fucking song. Each track that Brown Sox put on this album has the distinction of sounding roughly the same without actually having any particular style. I couldn't possibly proffer any comparisons between this band and anything I've heard before because it's just the most dull, hookless, colorless stuff - it's brown. And there are fourteen tracks of this mud, which is far too many when no one track distinguishes itself from any other. I can't even say something like "they overuse the traditional verse-chorus-verse song construction" because the songs seem to have very little structure at all.Point number two on my list of dislikes is the placement of useless "Casio on demo mode" keyboard ditties after every single song. They only last a few seconds, but show absolutely no imagination and almost always end suddenly, in mid-pattern, as if the keyboardist was shot dead on the spot, again and again. Before the disc ends with an absolute butchery of "The Immigrant Song," there is a simulation of someone dialing through radio stations, settling on different types of music in turn (from easy listening to country) which is overlaid by two vocal tracks - one tunelessly singing "blah blah blah" and the other saying "Getcher brown socks OOOONNNNNNN." This goes on and on until it becomes embarrassing. And is that a looped recording of someone pissing at the tail end of the CD?
My third complaint is with the vocals. The lead singer's growls and cleans are both lacking power, and the backing vocals are noticeably off-key on a couple songs. Whether the latter was done on purpose to increase discord and the discomfort of the listener is unknown; it is so obvious that any knob-twister worth his salt could not have missed it.
Finally, we come to the lyrics, which often read as though they were translated into English from some other language. Some examples (all copied verbatim from the lyrics sheet):
"Hush little baby don't you cry I did not sexinhale, hush little baby don't you cry did not sexinhale I did not sexinhale, sheep date in a white house, sheep date in a white house.."
"real is when you find out., the steered cows ever posing., they're all scared to stand out..Rushing power ever stronger., FUDGE the mass appeal., we're armed with a concept B.S. armed with the real..,Shed your fear void rave.."
"La, La, La, La, Laaaaa.When your screaming we both like it.., we never mind, so we feel like chasing butterflies., oh my stomachs fried, what we're feeling keeps us running scared.., hoping it not a lie." Now, I do honestly feel bad when I have to rip apart a demo like this. I don't have the drive to start a band, spend the money for equipment and the time for rehearsal, get up on stage night after night, and send out packages for review to websites like Metal Judgment. So to conclude my abysmal review I will say some positive things about the band in general (remember, all other comments were about this particular demo, most of which can be easily addressed). First off, they've got great enthusiasm for the music business, which is nice to see. They even cut the little CD holder at the back of their promo booklet into a grinning demon face, it's very cute. They are certainly not without talent, and it is evident that the band has been playing together for years. They just need some better songwriting to pull it all together. The website is professionally done. And I have no doubt that these guys put on an entertaining live show, they are probably great fun as a bar band. I don't think they are ever going to be a metal band, though, they've got too much of their Southern Fried Pride in their music, but as a hard rock band they could probably do okay for themselves for a few years. Good luck and Godspeed, Brown Sox.
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